unreadable

[ uhn-ree-duh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not readable; undecipherable; scribbled:

   His scrawl was almost unreadable.

2. not interesting to read; dull; tedious; an unreadable treatise.
3. extraordinarily difficult to read or comprehend; obscure; incomprehensible:

   an unreadable dream; an unreadable expression.

unreadable

/ ʌnˈriːdəbəl /

adjective

1. illegible; undecipherable
2. difficult or tedious to read

Derived Forms

• unˈreadably, adverb
• unˌreadaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• un·reada·bili·ty un·reada·ble·ness noun
• un·reada·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unreadable¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; un- ¹ + readable

Example Sentences

They were heading home empty-handed when data from a previous day of exploration, which had originally been unreadable, was finally cleaned up.

From Los Angeles Times

On many of the notices, BBC Verify has found key details to be unreadable and drawn boundaries inconsistent with the text.

From BBC

He was so angry that the first draft of “Southern Man” was “virtually unreadable.”

From Los Angeles Times

There’s nothing behind those eyes; better to hide them and have him appear inscrutable, unreadable.

From Los Angeles Times

The delicate quantum properties needed for sensing can be covered up by noise -- rapid interactions between the sensor and the environment that disrupt the information within the sensor, rendering the quantum signal unreadable.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• incomprehensible
• indecipherable