unintelligible

adjective

un·​in·​tel·​li·​gi·​ble ˌən-in-ˈte-lə-jə-bəl How to pronounce unintelligible (audio)
: unable to be understood or comprehended : not intelligible
a song with unintelligible lyrics
unintelligible jargon
… including parenthetical translations of the words and phrases he knew would be unintelligible to contemporary readers.John N. Green
unintelligibility noun
or less commonly unintelligibleness
unintelligibly adverb
muttering unintelligibly

Examples of unintelligible in a Sentence

uttered only a string of unintelligible murmurs
Recent Examples on the Web The researchers say that if the attack were carried out in the real world, people could be socially engineered into believing the unintelligible prompt might do something useful, such as improve their CV. Matt Burgess, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024 Ensure that all content stored and transmitted is encrypted, which means that the data remains unintelligible to unauthorized parties even if it is intercepted. Kris Lahiri, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024 For example, clinical notes are now legible and easy to retrieve but often bloated with unnecessary, duplicative, and, at times, unintelligible content. Spencer Dorn, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024 At least weekly, someone—a friend, family member or friend of a friend— contacts me for an interpretation of something a doctor said while using unintelligible medical jargon. Lisa Fitzpatrick, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for unintelligible 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unintelligible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1664, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unintelligible was in 1664

Dictionary Entries Near unintelligible

Cite this Entry

“Unintelligible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unintelligible. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on unintelligible

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