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

Derived Forms

• ilˌlegiˈbility, noun
• ilˈlegibly, adverb

Other Words From

• il·legi·bili·ty il·legi·ble·ness noun
• il·legi·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of illegible¹

First recorded in 1605–15; il- ² + legible

Example Sentences

With offers being countered numerous times, a faxed contract was often illegible by the time all the signatures were affixed and lenders would require that a clean copy be signed by buyers and sellers.

From Washington Blade

Capital Plus Financial hasn’t yet filed any responses, but told ProPublica that the sole named plaintiff had provided an “illegible” tax return that wasn’t signed, which is why the company decided to revoke his loan.

From ProPublica

Hyperreal individualism is where the original references are largely illegible or incoherent, but the individual wishes to define themselves and create an identity around their own disparate tastes and styles anyway.

From Vox

Say one of our story producers has an image that looks great in a desktop web browser but is illegible when it gets squished down into a mobile screen.

From ProPublica

Illegible handwriting and typos lead to errors and duplicate entries.

From The Daily Beast

They once would have seemed full of attitude, couched in almost illegible forms.

From The Daily Beast

She continued, “If I saw a signature and it looked like that, illegible, I would say: Beware.”

From The Daily Beast

They grew more shaky and more illegible towards the end, but they were sufficient to make the truth absolutely clear.

From Project Gutenberg

The inscription, which is in Gothic letters, is rendered illegible by time.

From Project Gutenberg

It is now illegible, and some of its lines appear to have been carefully erased—by some High Church chisel, probably.

From Project Gutenberg

They are, however, almost illegible, and I have made no attempt to reproduce them in the picture.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a black-letter inscription upon the front of the structure, but it is unfortunately quite illegible.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• indecipherable
• unintelligible