as in unreadable
incapable of being read or deciphered
illegible signatures on the petition will be disregarded
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illegible
His striking work, Protest, depicts the bloodshed of Sri Lanka’s long civil war, using books that are charred or rendered illegible, often decorated with symbolic or figurative objects, like toy-soldier figurines marching across a soiled page.
—
Thessaly La Force, Travel + Leisure, 4 July 2025
In other words, the historical record seems as illegible as my own prehistoric handwriting.
—Literary Hub, 12 June 2025
When the works’ motors are switched on, the sculptures spin rapidly and the texts dissolve in a whirl of motion, becoming nearly or entirely illegible.
—Marina Isgro, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Acronyms and jargon illegible to civilians are flying everywhere, and the world effectively shrinks down to a two-story duplex the Americans have commandeered and the market across the street viewed almost exclusively through a sniper’s scope.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illegible
Thessaly La Force, Travel + Leisure, 4 July 2025
In other words, the historical record seems as illegible as my own prehistoric handwriting.
—Literary Hub, 12 June 2025
When the works’ motors are switched on, the sculptures spin rapidly and the texts dissolve in a whirl of motion, becoming nearly or entirely illegible.
—Marina Isgro, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Acronyms and jargon illegible to civilians are flying everywhere, and the world effectively shrinks down to a two-story duplex the Americans have commandeered and the market across the street viewed almost exclusively through a sniper’s scope.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illegible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illegible
Adjective
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The serial number on the rifle was obliterated and unreadable.—
Jay Weaver,
Miami Herald,
23 Sep. 2025
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Cloud services protect your data using encryption, which makes information unreadable to unauthorized users.—
Roxanne Downer,
USA Today,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The agency said the company relied on confusing interfaces and obscure disclosures.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Sep. 2025
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But overall, the popularity of different computer languages could become as obscure a topic as the relative popularity of railway track gauges.—
Stephen Cass,
IEEE Spectrum,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Many listeners felt the quality of Lennon’s home recordings left the singer muddy and indecipherable in the mix.—
Dave Paulson,
Forbes.com,
19 Aug. 2025
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The two new model names—gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b—may be indecipherable to non-engineers, but that’s because OpenAI is setting its sights on AI builders and developers seeking to rapidly build on real-world use cases on their own systems.—
Andrew Nusca,
Fortune,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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And that voice in my head — the one bullying me to work harder — was growing a little fainter by the day.—
Jack Korngold,
Rolling Stone,
28 Sep. 2025
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Those figures are a faint piece of context when positioned next to the two numbers that matter, 11 1/2 and 4 1/2, but are part of the total story this week.—
Justin Ray,
New York Times,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Several creators who previously worked day jobs tell Rolling Stone that there’s an ongoing stigma surrounding the idea of leaving a steady day job — a stigma that’s decided less by rules and more by undecipherable vibes.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
26 July 2025
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Claims complexity: The billing process between hospitals and insurers is opaque to patients, who often receive surprising and undecipherable bills months after receiving care.—
Dan Gingiss,
Forbes.com,
11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The potential consequences here can’t be overstated—the idea that robots can be taken over and used for nefarious purposes is already a science fiction trope, but the impact of a high-profile robot hack on the reputation of the commercial robotics industry is unclear.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
25 Sep. 2025
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With votes looming, Johnson quiet on succession Johnson's position on the matter is yet unclear.—
Laura Gersony,
AZCentral.com,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Illegible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illegible. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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