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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

His PowerPoint slides were unreadable because of small text and the auditorium’s bright lights.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

“I am a deep ‘Star Wars’ fan,” he said in his second week on “The Late Show,” joking that his teleprompter was unreadable because it had angled yellow text like the famous “Star Wars” scroll.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

The look on my face was—closed off, unreadable.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

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