illegible

[ ih-lej-uh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not legible; impossible or hard to read or decipher because of poor handwriting, faded print, etc.:

   This letter is completely illegible.

illegible

/ ɪˈlɛdʒɪbəl /

adjective

1. unable to be read or deciphered

Derived Forms

• ilˌlegiˈbility, noun
• ilˈlegibly, adverb

Other Words From

• il·legi·bili·ty il·legi·ble·ness noun
• il·legi·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of illegible¹

First recorded in 1605–15; il- ² + legible

Example Sentences

The inscription on her headstone had become so illegible that, prompted by a local campaign, masonry restorers were brought in to spruce it up.

From BBC

There is an illegible history that you only really learn growing up in a place.

From Salon

For example, personal information on a ticket stub could be replaced with illegible letters, or a private building exchanged for a fake building or other landscape features.

From Science Daily

Their power comes in large part from remaining illegible and portraying themselves in deceptive ways that journalists and scholars have sometimes taken at face value, even as dominionists admit they are engaged in a long-term propaganda war.

From Salon

The victim, Louk, is an object, almost illegible as a person, reduced by her captors to a trophy.

From Slate

Related Words

• indecipherable
• unintelligible