intelligibility.

The extent to which speech, writing or another expression can be understood.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• speech intelligibility
• intelligibility of a passage

On the page

Speech intelligibility declined when several voices overlapped on the recording.

The passage’s intelligibility improved when the omitted connection was restored.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: definition, institutional analysis, scope assessment, comparison. Disciplines: academic writing, institutional analysis, conceptual explanation. Commonness: moderately common.