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Showing results for unreadable. Search instead for clay unreadable.
Synonyms

unreadable

American  
[uhn-ree-duh-buhl] / ʌnˈri də bəl /

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 British  
/ ʌnˈriːdəbəl /

adjective

  1. illegible; undecipherable

  2. difficult or tedious to read

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of unreadable

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


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.

See Examples For:

The toilets are in a "pitiful" state, some without locks; internet access is patchy in classrooms, and a lack of printer ink sometimes leaves handouts unreadable, he added, his friends nodding along.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The agendas also contained a distorted periodic table, unreadable phases of the moon and other garbled educational material that parents suspect may have been created using artificial intelligence.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

A strong undercurrent of that lively book is that it’s good to be unreadable and sneaky: “I play it very loose.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026

But while Melling is always endearingly open and responsive, Skarsgård stays unreadable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026

At the best of times his face was unreadable.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

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