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

Other Word Forms

• illegibility noun
• illegibleness noun
• illegibly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of illegible¹

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

Example Sentences

Lady Constance rarely had the patience to write these herself, and her cursive letters were loopy to the point of being illegible.

Read more on Literature

Both the paintings and the earthenware are scribbled with an illegible stream of consciousness poetry that Finley is channeling while making the work — often only visible in texture when the light hits right.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

One ironic artifact is a letter to a friend of Otto Frank’s from an unnamed Viking editor—the signature is illegible—rejecting the manuscript.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Also, a machine-learning model of the script was created to restore the illegible and damaged texts, paving the way for further research.

Read more on BBC

"They were tasked with delivering 17 million pieces of mail that had been just thrown into hangers, that had been mouldy and a lot of the names on the letters were illegible," he said.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• indecipherable 
• unintelligible