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

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.

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"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.

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The inscription on her headstone had become so illegible that, prompted by a local campaign, masonry restorers were brought in to spruce it up.

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There is an illegible history that you only really learn growing up in a place.

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Related Words

• indecipherable 
• unintelligible