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unreadability

unreadability

7.7
Writing that is hard to understand or enjoy
  • noun
  • /ˌʌnriˈdæbɪlɪti/
translation icon : ilegibilidad
  • The text (if only by its frequent 'unreadability') decants the work (the work permitting) from its consumption and gathers it up as play, activity, production, practice.

Examples

  • All free Libyans want the Libyan channels to be stopped. How can a channel of obvious unreadability be broadcasting and threatening people on state TV?

    Blog text (22)
  • Arthur Koestler, noting in The Sleepwalkers that its early readers, like its later ones, were dismayed by its "supreme unreadability," branded it "the book nobody read."

    Academic text (1999)
  • Like Franz Kafka's man from the country, they are transfixed, frozen, and held before the law by the law's "possibility and impossibility, its readability and unreadability, its necessity and its prohibition."

    Academic text (1992)
  • But the boats came, nameless, and who could not be disarmed by the fleeting ripples that their unreadability made visible in the endless propagation of all versions of what Karachi could be?

    Academic text (1992)
  • The book's unreadability frustrated many readers, making them abandon it halfway through.

  • Despite its interesting plot, the author's style resulted in the novel's utter unreadability for most people.

  • Technical jargon contributed to the unreadability of the instruction manual, leaving users confused.

Synonyms

opacity
vsunreadability
2 8.3

How hard something is to understand because it is unclear

is wider, including awkward presentation or unpleasant experience for readers
incomprehensibility
vsunreadability
1 9.9

A state where something is very hard to understand

adds the sense of being unpleasant to read as well as hard
inscrutability
vsunreadability
1 9.9

A quality that you cannot understand or know the reasons for

is broader, including poor presentation or unpleasant reading quality
indecipherability
vsunreadability
1 9.9

A difficulty understanding handwriting, signs, or codes

is about being hard or unpleasant to read or understand
illegibility
vsunreadability
1 7.6

Writing or print that is hard to read

includes reading difficulty but also unpleasantness or poor clarity
unintelligibility
vsunreadability
1 9.9

Something that is very hard to understand

includes poor presentation and makes reading unpleasant or hard to follow
abstruseness
vsunreadability
  • Formal
1 9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is complex or unclear

focuses more on surface readability and how pleasant it is to read
impalpability
vsunreadability
9.9

You cannot easily understand or picture it in your mind

applies more to written form and to unpleasant reading experience
impenetrability
vsunreadability
9.9

Very hard to understand because the ideas are unclear or complicated

is less about depth and more about readability and reader discomfort
opaqueness
vsunreadability
  • Formal
8.7

How hard it is to understand something because its meaning is unclear

also covers hard to read text and an unpleasant reading experience
unclarity
vsunreadability
7.7

Information or speech that is hard to understand and causes confusion

adds the idea of being unpleasant to read as well as unclear
unclearness
vsunreadability
7.7

A situation when something is hard to understand

emphasizes reading difficulty and negative reading experience in addition
abstrusity
vsunreadability
  • Formal
9.9

The quality of being very difficult to understand because it is complex

is less about depth and more about being hard or unpleasant to read
reconditeness
vsunreadability
  • Formal
9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is very complex

is more general, covering both obscure meaning and awkward readability

Antonyms

6 3.5

How easy text is to read and understand

How Readable

clarity
152 3.0
readability
6 3.5
difficulty
651 2.4
unreadability
7.7
illegibility
1 7.6

Surface Forms

unreadability singular

Morphology

unreadability = unreadable (transparent) = un + read + able + ity

The noun is a standard quality nominalization built from the clearly transparent adjective 'unreadable' plus '-ity'.

Etymology

Unreadability breaks into simple parts: un- meaning 'not', read meaning 'to look at and understand writing', -able meaning 'can', and -ity meaning 'the quality of'. So the word literally means the 'quality of not being readable', which is why it describes something that is hard or unpleasant to read.