as in incomprehensible
impossible to understand
uttered only a string of unintelligible murmurs
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Recent Examples of unintelligible
As satire, Next to Heaven is unintelligible, as though someone is universalizing their own hangups and then skewering them for clout.
—
Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
The removal of Spears' Instagram account came after years of public concern and defense over her social media presence, in which the pop star has been seen posting dance videos (including with knives), sometimes with unintelligible and bizarre captions.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 17 Nov. 2025
The vendor said some other things that were unintelligible because of the overlap between her live speech and the lagging translation.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
But in an Akan language, the notion that an object could exist as a bare substrate, stripped of properties—say, the idea of a stone, with its weight, texture, and color subtracted—is basically unintelligible; the metaphysical split between a thing and its properties isn’t naturally expressible.
—Lula Konner, The New York Review of Books, 4 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unintelligible
Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
The removal of Spears' Instagram account came after years of public concern and defense over her social media presence, in which the pop star has been seen posting dance videos (including with knives), sometimes with unintelligible and bizarre captions.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 17 Nov. 2025
The vendor said some other things that were unintelligible because of the overlap between her live speech and the lagging translation.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
But in an Akan language, the notion that an object could exist as a bare substrate, stripped of properties—say, the idea of a stone, with its weight, texture, and color subtracted—is basically unintelligible; the metaphysical split between a thing and its properties isn’t naturally expressible.
—Lula Konner, The New York Review of Books, 4 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unintelligible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligible
Adjective
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The majesty of the natural world and the incomprehensible vastness of space are almost infinitely rearrangeable variables for documentarians.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
13 Apr. 2026
-
Arthur is a creepy dude, a generic-looking cellphone store employee with an incomprehensible plan.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Circumstances vary case by case The string of mysterious deaths and disappearances began in 2023, lawmakers say, with the death of Michael David Hicks, a scientist who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nearly 25 years.—
Natasha Chen,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
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Created by Graham Yost based on Hugh Howey’s New York Times bestselling trilogy , Season 3 continues the saga of a dystopian society of 10,000 people living underground under mysterious circumstances, while revealing an origin story set centuries earlier.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This entire conversation might have concluded two years ago if the voters whose support the Royals required hadn’t viewed the details as a combination of absent, confusing or shifting.—
Sam McDowell,
Kansas City Star,
17 Apr. 2026
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Kitura Taniaa/Tetiana Kitura/Getty Images The price of gold can be confusing to track.—
Matt Richardson,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Jaafar Jackson does bear an uncanny resemblance to his late uncle, and clearly knows how to replicate his signature moves, his physical fluidity, his beaming smile reserved for fans, animals, and hospital residents.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
21 Apr. 2026
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Juxtaposed to Colman Domingo’s blustering portrayal of Joe Jackson and Jaafar Jackson’s uncanny performance as his late uncle Michael, Long has found a way to make silence load-bearing.—
Zeba Blay,
SELF,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Simultaneously, the solo careers of fellow Pornographers Neko Case and Dan Bejar had begun to take flight—Case as maybe the greatest country torch singer of her generation, and Bejar in his cryptic Leonard Cohen-adjacent auteur mode as Destroyer.—
Elizabeth Nelson,
Pitchfork,
8 Apr. 2026
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There’s a mysterious new leader of EON (ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization), according to a cryptic summary.—
Entertainment Weekly,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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While Callaghan successfully transitioned to the more traditional newscast-style Channel 5, the loss of AGNB’s esoteric style and specific storytelling seemed to gnaw at him.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Apr. 2026
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As the April 15 deadline for filing federal taxes approaches, many will stress over the complexities of filling out tax forms and locating seemingly esoteric documents.—
Carlos De Loera,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This was one of the city's most impenetrable buildings, surrounded by armed guards, made to look uninviting and unappealing.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
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Clearly, Villeneuve knows how to turn an impenetrable and famously difficult literary material into something truly cinematic and sweeping.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The top leagues are where the biggest clubs play – think Manchester United and Bayern Munich – with rosters of global superstars who are paid unfathomable wages.—
Tribune Content Agency,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Apr. 2026
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In recent years, extreme weather events have caused unfathomable economic damage, and those costs are passed on to homeowners, renters, and small businesses through higher rates for insurance.—
Scott Wiener,
Oc Register,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligible. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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