as in unreadable
incapable of being read or deciphered illegible signatures on the petition will be disregarded

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of illegible Some of the headstones have legible names, others are illegible or are just horizontal blocks indicating a grave. Briah Lumpkins, Charlotte Observer, 8 May 2025 In his debut novel, Ocean Vuong took pains to be illegible. Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 6 May 2025 Inscriptions on the walls of the entrance reference the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, but the name of the king buried within the tomb is illegible. Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2025 Also that thing where sometimes if text is illegible a model might just invent the text. Ars Technica, 11 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for illegible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illegible
Adjective
  • These allergens were not properly identified on the packaging due to print quality issues that rendered ingredient lists and allergen warnings either unreadable or missing.
    Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 May 2025
  • Luckily, Marybeth knows just how to do that, and before long Affleck’s Christian Wolff has wheeled into town in his trailer, his face unreadable but his spirit somehow willing to help.
    Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Their final products include paintings, sketches, audio recordings, sculptures and videos of some of the Louvre’s most iconic artworks, as well as some of its more obscure.
    Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2025
  • Answers vary from obvious to obscure, some citing culture or clutch performances, while others cling to cliches that this club is turning into truths.
    Chandler Rome, New York Times, 26 June 2025
Adjective
  • Comments Singer, actress, activist, indecipherable social media user — there are many contours to Cher.
    Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 20 May 2025
  • The app translated this information into line graphs that looked impressively medical but were, to me, indecipherable.
    Anonymous, Vogue, 10 May 2025
Adjective
  • That memory, faint but enduring, was set in the downstairs den of their home.
    Ajdina Halilovic, Wired News, 6 July 2025
  • Until then, there is a faint hope that tardigrades survive — though likely not living it up — on the moon.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 3 July 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • Hinton then offered an extremely detailed scientific explanation of why that's the case -- an explanation that would be undecipherable to anyone but an AI creator like himself.
    Josh Meyer, USA TODAY, 4 May 2023
Adjective
  • What’s unclear is whether Staley even really wanted the Knicks job.
    Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 5 July 2025
  • And many of the particulars of the deal are still unclear, with the White House yet to release a term sheet or publish any proclamation codifying the agreement.
    Akayla Gardner, Fortune, 4 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Illegible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illegible. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.

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