1 unreadable | Definition of unreadable

unreadable

adjective
un·​read·​able | \ ˌən-ˈrÄ“-dÉ™-bÉ™l How to pronounce unreadable (audio) \

Definition of unreadable

: not readable: such as
a : not decipherable : illegible unreadable handwriting
b : impossible to read and understand : incomprehensible … a flawed, unreadable, misleading bill that garnered support based on propaganda and clever—but false—talking points.— Marilyn M. Singleton
c : impossible to interpret The expression on her face was unreadable.
d : not enjoyable or interesting enough to engage the reader an unreadable novel

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Synonyms & Antonyms for unreadable

Synonyms

illegible, indecipherable, undecipherable

Antonyms

clean, decipherable, fair, legible, readable

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Examples of unreadable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Police stopped the man’s Saab after noticing that its temporary license tag, in the Saab’s rear window, was unreadable and displayed improperly. Bob Sandrick, cleveland.com, "Drunk drivers crash cars into other vehicles: Berea police blotter," 1 Aug. 2019 Ours, a Chinese man in a shiny vest, was—perhaps intentionally, given that a foreigner was having a wild run at the expense of other Chinese men—unreadable. Chia-chia Lin, The New Yorker, "A novelist’s stint impersonating the ultra-rich in China.," 16 July 2019 The four were in a truck when a patrolman pulled them over for an unreadable temporary tag. Robert Garrison, The Denver Post, "4 wanted on charges after 33 cockfighting roosters seized during Summit County traffic stop," 7 July 2019 Entries that are late, incomplete, unreadable, inaccurate, unintelligible or otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules will be disqualified. Washington Post, "20th annual Travel photo contest: Official rules," 26 June 2019 Security experts say that while these passwords can be unreadable, there are tools that can help hackers crack simple or easy-to-guess passwords, even with these protections. Robert Mcmillan, WSJ, "Data Breach at Question-and-Answer Site Quora Affects 100 Million," 3 Dec. 2018 Whatever the receptionist was considering was unreadable. Paul Yoon, Harper's magazine, "Run Me to Earth," 10 Mar. 2019 Young women are being raped and murdered, and as suspicion circles Pascal, Moll’s behavior is disturbingly unreadable. Michael Pearce, New York Times, "Review: A Troubled Beauty and a Mysterious ‘Beast’," 10 May 2018 The contents of a 16th century scroll left unreadable by severe burns have been uncovered by scientists, who used X-rays to piece together the 400-year-old message. Sam Blum, Popular Mechanics, "Researchers Used X-Rays to Read This 400-Year-Old Burnt Up Scroll," 4 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unreadable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of unreadable

circa 1655, in the meaning defined above

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More Definitions for unreadable

unreadable

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of unreadable

: unable to be read or understood
: too difficult, badly written, etc., to be worth reading

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More from Merriam-Webster on unreadable

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for unreadable

Spanish Central: Translation of unreadable

Nglish: Translation of unreadable for Spanish Speakers