Crossword Dictionary
INCALCULABLE
incalculable - a
not capable of being computed or enumerated
Synonyms
boundless, enormous, immense, infinite, unforeseen, untold, vast, capricious, chancy, erratic, fluctuant, iffy, incomputable, inestimable, innumerable, jillion, measureless, no end of
Examples
Thus it was the Aeginetans who, within thirty or forty years of the invention of coinage by the Lydians (c. 700 B.C.), introduced to the western world a system of such incalculable value to trade.
He took public education out of the hands of the Jesuits, which, for the future development of manliness in his dominions, was a measure of incalculable value.
These invasions were fortunately not frequent, but when they occurred they caused an incalculable amount of devastation and suffering.
Etymology
"incapable of being reckoned," 1772, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + calculable "that can be counted" (see calculate). Related: Incalculably; incalculability.
in- (1)
word-forming element meaning "not, opposite of, without" (also im-, il-, ir- by assimilation of -n- with following consonant, a tendency which began in later Latin), from Latin in- "not," cognate with Greek an-, Old English un-, all from PIE root *ne- "not."
calculate (v.)
1560s, "ascertain by computation, estimate by mathematical means," from Latin calculatus, past participle of calculare "to reckon, compute," from calculus (see calculus). It replaced earlier calculen (mid-14c.), from Old French calculer.