illegible
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of illegible
Explanation
When your friend scribbles a note to you and you can’t figure out what it says, it’s because her handwriting is illegible — it’s unreadable. The adjective illegible is often used to describe handwriting, because people tend to have their own styles and sometimes write in a pretty messy way. But it can also refer to printed words that are faded or for some other reason difficult to read. If you leave a book open in the rain, the print will probably become illegible. If you’re walking in an old graveyard, the writing on the tombstones is often illegible.
Vocabulary lists containing illegible
And Then There Were None
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Speak
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A Lesson Before Dying
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Looking at his police file, I can hardly read the signature over his statement; his name is illegible, scrawled and messy, like that of a boy.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
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.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
"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.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2024
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 ● May 29, 2024
In his nearly illegible longhand, he wrote and then tore up several drafts trying to find just the right words to convey his conflicted beliefs.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
