onmeetbare

Onmeetbare is a Dutch adjective meaning immeasurable or unmeasurable, used to describe quantities, values, phenomena, or qualities that cannot be measured or quantified with available methods. The word is formed from the negating prefix on- and the adjective meetbaar (measurable).

Grammatically, onmeetbaar is the basic form, and in attributive position before a noun it commonly appears as onmeetbare, as in onmeetbare waarde or onmeetbare afstand. In predicative use, the base form onmeetbaar is also used: De afstand is onmeetbaar. The term is widely established in both formal and everyday Dutch.

Usage and scope: Onmeetbare is applied across disciplines and contexts to signal a limitation of measurement or a qualitative aspect that resists quantification. In everyday language it can describe emotions, beauty, or moral qualities that resist numerical assessment. In science and philosophy, the term appears in discussions about measurement limits, the nature of the infinite, or the scope of human perception and inquiry.

Related terms include immeasurable, unquantifiable, incalculable, and incommensurable, which are used in English to convey closely related ideas but may carry distinct technical nuances in different fields. See also: immeasurable, unquantifiable, incommensurable.