unintelligible
Impossible to comprehend
Unintelligible describes speech, writing, or signals that cannot be understood—whether because of mumbling, poor handwriting, technical jargon, or corruption of the message: His accent was so thick the words were unintelligible.
The word emphasizes that meaning fails to reach the listener or reader, regardless of whether sense exists at the source.
Unintelligible speech or writing
- babbleIncoherent speech
- incoherentLacking logical connection
- slurredIndistinctly articulated
- muffledMade quieter, less distinct
distorted · scrambled · jumbled · inarticulate · mumbled · indistinct · unclear · blurred
Impossible to understand
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
- opaqueImpassable to light
- inscrutableImpossible to understand
arcane · esoteric · recondite · abstract · dense · complex · convoluted · technical
Impossible to understand
- encryptedTransformed into cipher
- cipherHidden writing system
- crypticObscure in meaning
- encodedConverted to cipher
undecipherable · unreadable · hieroglyphic · runic · symbolic · ciphertext · scrambled · obscured
gibberish
Unintelligible speech or writing
- babbleIncoherent speech
- incoherentLacking logical connection
- slurredIndistinctly articulated
muffled · distorted · scrambled · jumbled · inarticulate · mumbled · indistinct · unclear · blurred · fuzzy
incomprehensible
Impossible to understand
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
- opaqueImpassable to light
inscrutable · arcane · esoteric · recondite · abstract · dense · complex · convoluted · technical · inaccessible
indecipherable
Impossible to understand
encoded · undecipherable · unreadable · hieroglyphic · runic · symbolic · ciphertext · scrambled · obscured · secretive
- confusionconfusion, confused, bewilderment, perplexity, baffled
- mysteriousmysterious, cryptic, enigmatic, arcane, obscure
- disorderedchaotic, disorganized, disordered, jumbled, messy
- Flawedflawed, faulty, defective, broken, imperfect
unintelligibleintelligible
Capable of being understood
comprehensible · understandable · fathomable · decipherable · readable
unintelligibleclear
Without obstruction or fog
lucid · articulate · coherent · pellucid · perspicuous