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unreadably

unreadably

7.7
In a way so messy or faint you cannot make out the letters
  • adverb
  • /ʌnˈrɛdəbli/
translation icon : ilegiblemente
  • The instructions were written in a font that was unreadably small, making them impossible to follow.

Examples

  • He did an eight-pager, a one-shot, and a two-part inventory story (that got burned off as an annual, with unreadably terrible art).

    Blog text (17)
  • By the time those copyrights expire, the file formats will have been unreadably obsolete for decades.

    Blog text (25)
  • She is standing before a simple block of granite, which measures 4' by 4' by 4', and features a small plaque bearing an inscription in unreadably small letters.

    Academic text (2007)
  • He wore the headscarf, too, spilling loosely across his shoulders, and Heikki saw Alexieva's grim face shift slightly, unreadably, as the younger man came forward to greet them.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Despite his best efforts, the handwriting remained unreadably smudged and unclear after the rain.

  • The document was so poorly scanned that the text appeared unreadably blurry on the screen.

Synonyms

unintelligibly
vsunreadably
2 8.1

In a way that is very hard to understand

refers more to being unreadable on the page than to unclear meaning
incomprehensibly
vsunreadably
2 8.0

It is very hard to understand

highlights visual illegibility rather than deep failure to comprehend
illegibly
vsunreadably
1 6.5

In a way that is hard for others to read

is the same idea expressed with a different adverb form
indecipherably
vsunreadably
8.5

So unclear that people cannot read or understand it

focuses on visual unreadability rather than broader interpretation problems
undecipherably
vsunreadably
9.8

In a way people cannot read or understand

narrows this to the visual inability to read rather than general confusion

Antonyms

3.7

In a clear way so people can see and understand the writing easily

How Readable

legibly
3 2.3
clearly
1.0
unclearly
1 4.4
unreadably
7.7
illegibly
1 6.5

Surface Forms

unreadably positive

Morphology

unreadably = unreadable (transparent) = un + read + able + ly

Standard adjectival to adverbial derivation by adding '-ly' to 'unreadable', preserving meaning.

Etymology

The word unreadably starts with un- 'not', has read 'to look at and understand words', and ends with -able 'can' plus -ly which makes it describe how something is done. So it means 'in a way that cannot be read', which is why we use it for handwriting or text that is impossible or very hard to read.