undecipherableadj.
/ˌʌndᵻˈsʌɪf(ə)rəbl/, U.S. /ˌəndəˈsaɪf(ə)rəb(ə)l/, /ˌəndiˈsaɪf(ə)rəb(ə)l/ That cannot be deciphered or made out; indecipherable:
a. Of writings, inscriptions, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > bad > illegible or untidy
unlegible1451
foul?1467
scribbled1550
scribbling1592
crabbed1612
hieroglyphical1613
scrabbled1625
illegible1640
unreadable1655
scribbly1659
pot-hook1674
scrawlinga1754
undecipherable1758
scribblative1829
scrawly1833
scrawny1833
scrawled1848
hieroglyphic1856
pot-hooky1867
scriggly1896
chicken scratch1933
1758 H. Walpole Lett. to H. Mann 23 Feb. (1846) III. 346 Your copyist or his original have made undecypherable mistakes.
a1827 Miss Benger in Literary Souvenir 39 This paper..being in many parts almost undecypherable.
1862 A. P. Stanley Serm. in East (1863) 136 In another fifty years it is probable that many of them will be almost undecypherable.
1877 ‘H. A. Page’ T. De Quincey: Life & Writings II. xviii. 128 The rest of this letter is so mutilated as to be undecipherable.
b. transferred.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > inexplicableness > [adjective]
unplitable?c1425
unexplicable1532
inexplicable1546
subtle1547
irresolute1574
subtile1582
undissoluble1587
incomprehensible1604
unexpoundable1611
unfoldable1611
inexplainable1623
unsalvable1624
uninterpretable1625
indissolvable1637
unaccountable1643
inaccountable1647
unexplainablea1711
undecipherable1757
irresolvable1785
indecipherable1853
unconstruable1856
inconstruable1874
unravellable1881
1757 Ld. Chesterfield Let. in Misc. Wks. (1777) II. 435 Public matters have been long, and are still, too undecypherable for me to understand, consequently to relate.
1850 G. Grote Hist. Greece VIII. 574 In settling the undecipherable portions of the problem.
1856 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay V. 272 Its cause, its nature, and its undecipherable issue.
1876 T. Hardy Hand of Ethelberta This deep undecipherable habit sometimes suggested..Ethelberta's busy brain to her sisters.
Derivatives
undecipheraˈbility n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [noun] > bad handwriting > untidy or illegible > quality
illegibility1818
scrawliness1867
crabbedness1883
undecipherability1890
1890 Standard 17 Jan. 5/3 Owing to the undecipherability of many of the signatures.
undecipherably adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > inexplicableness > [adverb]
unaccomptibly1678
unaccountably1694
unexplainedly1811
undecipherably1847
unexplainably1899
inexplicably1903
mystifyingly1937
1847 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Undecipherably.
1875 J. Ruskin Mornings in Florence II. 35 The whole landscape is..quite undecipherably changed and spoiled.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1757