as in illegible
incapable of being read or deciphered
the old book contains an inscription, but the handwriting is cramped and unreadable
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Recent Examples of unreadable
In early 2025, the victim was 56-year-old Gerald Neal, a pedestrian who was run over twice as an unmarked police truck chased a vehicle in Holden Heights over an unreadable license plate.
—
Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2026
In some cases, postmarks may also be faint or unreadable.
—Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 7 Jan. 2026
Some pages that are currently public are entirely unreadable.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 21 Dec. 2025
There’s a local doctor, Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), who has slipped into alcoholic despair since his wife left him, and Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a best-selling author and self-professed recovering liberal, whose rightward drift has led him to write an unreadable book about Wicks’s life.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreadable
Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2026
In some cases, postmarks may also be faint or unreadable.
—Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 7 Jan. 2026
Some pages that are currently public are entirely unreadable.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 21 Dec. 2025
There’s a local doctor, Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), who has slipped into alcoholic despair since his wife left him, and Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a best-selling author and self-professed recovering liberal, whose rightward drift has led him to write an unreadable book about Wicks’s life.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreadable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unreadable
illegible
Adjective
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This illegible language continues to distinguish his works on a global level.—
Sofia Celeste,
Footwear News,
28 May 2026
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And the document itself is marked up with corrections and disclaimers that facts are incorrect or that context is missing to the point of being almost illegible.—
Douglas Schoen,
Oc Register,
28 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unreadable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unreadable. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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