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.
The measures are directed at addressing operational gaps identified in the episode, including an unintelligible transmission to air-traffic controllers, who failed to notify a nearby passenger jet of the president’s helicopter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Whatever she said was rendered unintelligible among the thunderous cheers of fans who surged forward, putting her entourage to the test.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2025
But what has chapped the angry user base seems to be not the A.I. but the unintelligible changes to the platform’s user interface.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2025
Casual viewers might have agreed more with Samuel L Jackson's plea for Lamar to keep it light; especially as some of his more densely-written lyrics were rendered unintelligible by the stadium's cavernous echo.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2025
The girl mumbled something unintelligible and pushed a meatball around in her bowl.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
