Standard Lemma guide

unintelligible

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌʌnɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒɪbəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N IH0 N T EH1 L AH0 JH AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not intelligible; unable to be understood.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

poorly articulated or enunciated, or drowned by noise

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • unintelligible speech

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: intelligible

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

not clearly understood or expressed

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: opaque

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English intelligible English unintelligible From un- + intelligible.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: неразбираем (nerazbiraem) — not intelligible
  • Catalan: inintel·ligible — not intelligible
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不可理解的 (bù kě lǐjiě de) — not intelligible
  • Czech: nesrozumitelný — not intelligible
  • Dutch: onverstaanbaar — not intelligible
  • Dutch: onbegrijpelijk — not intelligible
  • Finnish: käsittämätön — not intelligible
  • Finnish: ei ymmärrettävä — not intelligible
  • French: inintelligible — not intelligible
  • Galician: inintelixible — not intelligible
  • Georgian: გაუგებარი (gaugebari) — not intelligible
  • Georgian: ძნელმისახვედრი (ʒnelmisaxvedri) — not intelligible
  • Georgian: ბუნდოვანი (bundovani) — not intelligible
  • Georgian: გაურკვეველი (gaurḳveveli) — not intelligible
  • German: unverständlich — not intelligible
  • Greek: ακατάληπτος (akatáliptos) — not intelligible
  • Greek: ακατανόητος (akatanóitos) — not intelligible
  • Hungarian: érthetetlen — not intelligible
  • Italian: inintelligibile — not intelligible
  • Italian: incomprensibile — not intelligible
  • Korean: 이해할 수 없는 (ihaehal su eomneun) — not intelligible
  • Lithuanian: nesuprantamas — not intelligible
  • Māori: manganga — not intelligible
  • Māori: nanu — not intelligible
  • Norwegian: uforståelig — not intelligible
  • Occitan: inintelligible — not intelligible
  • Polish: niezrozumiały — not intelligible
  • Portuguese: ininteligível — not intelligible
  • Portuguese: incompreensível — not intelligible
  • Romanian: neinteligibil — not intelligible
  • Russian: невразуми́тельный (nevrazumítelʹnyj) — not intelligible
  • Russian: непоня́тный (neponjátnyj) — not intelligible
  • Spanish: ininteligible — not intelligible
  • Swedish: obegriplig — not intelligible