intelligibility
Americannoun
-
the quality or condition of being intelligible; capability of being understood.
-
something intelligible.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of intelligibility
First recorded in 1600–10; intelligible + -ity
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.
Lang also insists upon amplification, which can or cannot enhance the intelligibility of text.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
"They didn’t share his optimism that physics will be able to actually produce any theory of intelligibility and consciousness which is responsible for the physical picture of the world."
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2025
In that era, the idea of opera as drama was taken seriously, and intelligibility was essential.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2022
But like most palindromes, Tenet prizes reversibility over intelligibility: The point of “Able was I ere I saw Elba” is that it reads the same both ways, not that it teaches you anything.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2020
The only place he mentions the prose writer is in the seventeenth section, where he says that the prose writer usually aims only after intelligibility and clarity, while the poet seeks also to be vivid.
From The Literature of Ecstasy by Mordell, Albert
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.
