incommensurability

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the absence of a common standard by which two things can be measured, compared, or evaluated

   The debate exposed the incommensurability of economic efficiency and sacred cultural value.

2. 2
   noun

   the mathematical property of two magnitudes whose ratio cannot be expressed as a ratio of whole numbers

   The incommensurability of a square's diagonal and side means that their ratio is irrational.

Formed from incommensurable and -ity. Incommensurable ultimately combines Latin in-, 'not,' with commensurabilis, 'measurable by a common standard,' from com-, 'together,' and mensurare, 'to measure.' The mathematical sense supplied the metaphor used in philosophy and social science.

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