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illegibly

illegibly

1 6.5
In a way that is hard for others to read
  • adverb
  • /ɪˈlɛdʒəblɪ/
translation icon : ilegiblemente
  • The form required all signatures to be clear, but one was signed illegibly, leading to confusion.

Examples

  • In his "Introduction to Literature from Abroad," he discusses a 1909 novel entitled Blessings of Guilt by a poet whose European name was spelled in Japanese and printed so illegibly that it can no longer be identified.

    Academic text (1990)
  • And Charlie always wrote illegibly and the wrong number of words no matter what.

  • He saw Big Ed illegibly moving forward from a side street.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • I seriously thought about using a fake birth date and SS# or writing them out so illegibly that it would be difficult to read correctly.

    Blog text (1)
  • Of course, OPAC cover displays usually include only the front cover and may have illegibly small text, making them an inadequate substitute for physical dust jackets.

    Academic text (2015)
  • An increase in the rate of improperly timed, dated, and illegibly signed orders identified during routine chart reviews led to an educational campaign, led by our students, for both physicians and nurses to raise awareness of the importance of signing, dating, and timing orders.

    Academic text (2013)
  • It was a slick gray photocopy of a release from Central State, with the name of Paxton Morgan typed along with other information and the illegibly scrawled signature of some doctor or official in the lower right-hand corner.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Her handwriting was so messy that she often wrote illegibly, making it hard for anyone to read her notes.

  • During the meeting, he scrawled his ideas illegibly on the whiteboard, and no one could decipher what he meant.

Synonyms

indistinctly
vsillegibly
23 6.3

Hard to see, hear, or remember clearly

is more specific, relating to difficulty reading rather than general vagueness
unintelligibly
vsillegibly
2 8.1

In a way that is very hard to understand

is specifically about visual reading difficulty rather than general understanding
incomprehensibly
vsillegibly
2 8.0

It is very hard to understand

is narrower, applying to visual unreadability rather than broad incomprehension
blurrily
vsillegibly
1 5.6

In a way that is not clear or easy to see

is about text being hard to read rather than just blurred vision
murkily
vsillegibly
1 7.5

In a dark, unclear way that is hard to see or understand

focuses more on visual darkness than only on reading difficulty
opaquely
vsillegibly
1 8.0

In a way that is hard to understand or see through

is about physical unreadability rather than deliberate obscurity of meaning
unclearly
vsillegibly
1 4.4

Not clear or hard to understand

is focused on how text appears to the eye rather than general clarity
indecipherably
vsillegibly
8.5

So unclear that people cannot read or understand it

is about being hard or impossible to read but not always absolute
undecipherably
vsillegibly
9.8

In a way people cannot read or understand

focuses mainly on difficulty of reading rather than full incomprehension
unreadably
vsillegibly
7.7

In a way so messy or faint you cannot make out the letters

covers the general state of being hard to read, not intensity alone

Antonyms

3 2.3

Clearly enough for someone to read what is written

How Legible

clearly
881 1.0
legibly
3 2.3
illegibly
1 6.5

Surface Forms

illegibly positive

Morphology

illegibly = illegible (transparent) = il + legible + ly

Formed by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to 'illegible' (itself 'il-' + 'legible'), so the meaning 'in a way that is not readable' is directly derived.

Etymology

The word illegibly comes from in- ('not') plus the root leg- ('to read'), and the ending -ly makes it a word that tells how something is done. So, to write illegibly is to write in a way that cannot be read.