unintelligible
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unintelligible
First recorded in 1610–20; un- 1 + intelligible
Explanation
Something unintelligible is difficult to understand, either because the room is too noisy or because the unintelligible thing is too quiet or confusing. We use our intelligence to understand things, and something intelligible is easy to understand. Therefore, unintelligible things are hard to understand. A coded message is unintelligible if you don't know the code. A whisper in a loud room is unintelligible. A weird sentence like "The waffles ran away from the Easter basket" is unintelligible because it doesn't make any sense. If you can't hear or understand something, it's unintelligible (and probably frustrating too).
Vocabulary lists containing unintelligible
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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.
Paul Pinto's "Unintelligible Response," which followed, concerns Thomas Paine, whom the composer described as "the lowliest of our Founding Fathers, but the most fascinating."
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2015
Unintelligible or repulsive in large ways, Pound did have that gift of the ear.
From Slate • Feb. 14, 2012
Unintelligible orders were so rapidly given and so immediately executed; there was such a hurrying about, and such an intermingling of strange cries and stranger actions, that I was completely bewildered.
From Two Years Before the Mast by Dana, Richard Henry
Unintelligible murmuring, and then: "D'you know who it was that invented stopping and passing the time of day?" said the nearing voice of Mr. V.V., gayer than Cally Heth had ever heard it.
From V. V.'s Eyes by Harrison, Henry Sydnor
Unintelligible as it proved to Ivan's unsophisticated ears, he listened with awe to the sound of royal, and other lofty and sacred names bandied about with a familiarity that was the opposite of respect.
From The Genius by Potter, Margaret Horton
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.
