indecipherable

[ in-di-sahy-fer-uh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not decipherable; illegible.
2. not understandable; incomprehensible.

indecipherable

/ -frəbəl; ˌɪndɪˈsaɪfərəbəl /

adjective

1. not decipherable; illegible

Derived Forms

• ˌindeˌcipheraˈbility, noun
• ˌindeˈcipherably, adverb

Other Words From

• inde·cipher·a·bili·ty inde·cipher·a·ble·ness noun
• inde·cipher·a·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of indecipherable¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; in- ³ + decipherable ( def )

Example Sentences

You may find many of these efforts and developments—from governance tokens to volumetric video to haptic gloves—irrelevant or indecipherable, especially in the face of much greater global problems.

From Time

Either they want more control over how their media is bought via online marketplaces that have become indecipherable in parts or they want to squeeze agency costs — the latter doesn’t make the former any less valid.

From Digiday

One eyewitness recognized certain symbols like the palm tree but declared the inscriptions to be “indecipherable.”

From The Daily Beast

The truth is that anyone can get involved with cryptocurrencies, but if you’re new to them, it can seem like a daunting field, full of indecipherable jargon and security risks.

From Popular-Science

Those policies are typically indecipherable legalese and vary from one platform to another.

From Time

A silver bucket adorned with indecipherable white symbols sits amid candles and small wooden figures of African gods.

From The Daily Beast

Yet how, in this age of protean trends and indecipherable jargon, are we to draw the line?

From The Daily Beast

Nuclear jargon has evolved into a code that is indecipherable to the layman.

From The Daily Beast

His edits often were indecipherable, mysterious marks on the side of the page written with a Sharpie.

From The Daily Beast

Although Valentine and his two comrades might interrogate the desert, it remained dumb and indecipherable as a closed book.

From Project Gutenberg

And what a strange and indecipherable "crypto-porticus" would the "Twopenny Tube" prove to some future Middleton of the ages?

From Project Gutenberg

Stoddard looked down at the shameful old man with eyes that were indecipherable.

From Project Gutenberg

But what an indecipherable riddle was this building, standing on a site of the Eocene period!

From Project Gutenberg

It satisfied in some measure the vague, indecipherable yearning of my soul; and it was the same with him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cryptic
• illegible