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unintelligibly

unintelligibly

2 8.1
In a way that is very hard to understand
  • adverb
  • /ˌʌnɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəbli/
translation icon : ininteligible
  • Mike mumbled unintelligibly into the pillow and rolled over.
  • mutter unintelligibly
  • mumble unintelligibly

Examples

  • Hagar asked him questions, and he responded by jerking his head or mumbling unintelligibly.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Apart from that, the news was unintelligibly weird, full of people, places, words, and countries he had never heard of.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Danny lay on the sofa with his eyes closed and muttered unintelligibly.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • If you had one of the writing/coloring assignments, you could literally see yourself deteriorating; those who had to say something or other had little idea and would just begin to ramble on unintelligibly most of the time.

    Blog text (10)
  • However, on the fourth afternoon, she was suddenly unable to keep Helen's face distinct from the sights themselves; her lips widened as she bent down over the bed, and she began to gabble unintelligibly like the rest.

    Academic text (1998)
  • He was speaking so quickly that his words came out unintelligibly.

  • The instructions were written unintelligibly, making it hard for anyone to follow them.

  • During the lecture, the professor's strong accent made his explanations sound unintelligibly to many students.

Synonyms

incomprehensibly
vsunintelligibly
2 8.0

It is very hard to understand

also applies when understanding is only very difficult rather than impossible
inscrutably
vsunintelligibly
1 9.6

In a way that hides what someone feels and is hard to understand

describes lack of understanding without suggesting mystery or enigma
unclearly
vsunintelligibly
1 4.4

Not clear or hard to understand

indicates stronger difficulty, often impossible rather than just unclear
indecipherably
vsunintelligibly
8.5

So unclear that people cannot read or understand it

is broader and covers any difficulty understanding not only unreadable text
undecipherably
vsunintelligibly
9.8

In a way people cannot read or understand

is focused on general understanding rather than only physical illegibility

Antonyms

881 1.0

In a way that is easy to see, hear, or understand

intelligibly
  • Formal
1 4.9

In a clear and easy way that people can understand

How Understandable

unclearly
1 4.4
obscurely
2 7.7
unintelligibly
2 8.1

Surface Forms

unintelligibly positive

Morphology

unintelligibly = unintelligible (transparent) = un + intelligible + ly

The adverb is formed by adding the productive suffix '-ly' to 'unintelligible', so its meaning is directly 'in an unintelligible manner'.

Etymology

Unintelligibly starts with un- meaning 'not' and has the root intelligible meaning 'able to be understood', the same root as intelligence and intelligent. So, unintelligibly means 'in a way that cannot be understood'.