unintelligible

[ uhn-in-tel-i-juh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not intelligible; not capable of being understood.

   Synonyms: undecipherable, baffling, incomprehensible

unintelligible

/ ˌʌnɪnˈtɛlɪdʒɪbəl /

adjective

1. not able to be understood; incomprehensible

Other Words From

• unin·telli·gi·bili·ty unin·telli·gi·ble·ness noun
• unin·telli·gi·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unintelligible¹

First recorded in 1610–20; un- ¹ + intelligible

Example Sentences

After lunch on the day she comforted the crying man, Omura drove a women from her broken down RV to a strip mall to cash her disability check, urged a woman in a tent by the railroad tracks to go with her to a shelter and listened to the unintelligible story of a man she had never seen before sitting on a bench outside Redondo Beach City Hall.

From Los Angeles Times

Day in and day out, the Times “sanewashes” his dark and unintelligible ramblings.

From Salon

The final five minutes were almost unintelligible, marked almost entirely by crosstalk, as Baier refused to let Harris speak uninterrupted.

From Slate

The 911 call is partly unintelligible, but police said his former girlfriend opened her bedroom door after he threatened to shoot through it.

From Los Angeles Times

His first 2020 presidential debate against Mr Biden devolved into an unintelligible melee when Trump kept interrupting.

From BBC

Related Words

• illegible
• impenetrable
• incomprehensible
• indecipherable
• meaningless
• opaque
• unfathomable
• vague