unintelligible.

Unable to be understood because its meaning or expression cannot be made clear to the listener or reader.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• unintelligible speech
• unintelligible passage

On the page

The recording was loud enough, but the overlapping voices made the exchange unintelligible.

The passage became unintelligible when the copied text omitted its central distinction.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more unintelligible; superlative most unintelligible where gradation is meaningful. 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: description, interpretation, contrast, characterization. Disciplines: prose writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common.