unintelligible
gb/ˌʌnɪntˈɛləd͡ʒəbəl/ us/ˌʌnɪntˈɛləd͡ʒəbəl/
C1
English
~ 9000
érthetetlen, kifürkészhetetlen, kivehetetlen, átláthatatlan, nem kölcsönösen érthető
C1
1
Usage pattern:
[something] is unintelligible (to [someone])
The recording was so full of background noise that most of his comments were unintelligible.
A felvétel annyira tele volt háttérzajjal, hogy a megjegyzéseinek nagy része érthetetlen volt.
Her voice became unintelligible as the phone signal started to break up.
A hangja érthetetlenné vált, ahogy a telefonjel elkezdett szakadozni.
The instructions were written in such dense legal language that they were almost unintelligible to ordinary readers.
He muttered something unintelligible and walked away before I could ask him to repeat it.
By the end of the concert, the singer’s lyrics were unintelligible over the distorted guitar.
Learner examples
The old man spoke very fast, and his words were unintelligible to me.
Az idős férfi nagyon gyorsan beszélt, és a szavai számomra érthetetlenek voltak.
The movie was good, but the sound was bad and many lines were unintelligible.
A film jó volt, de rossz volt a hang, és sok mondat érthetetlen volt.
She sent me a note, but her handwriting was almost unintelligible.
The call cut out, and the voice on the line became unintelligible.
Without my glasses, the small text on the screen is unintelligible.
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse "unintelligible" with "unintelligent". "Unintelligible" describes speech, writing, or sounds that cannot be understood; it does NOT mean a person is not smart. Also, some learners say *"un-understandable"* instead; the natural word is "unintelligible" or "unintelligible to me".
Meaning
impossible or very hard to understand
Collocations
almost unintelligible
|largely unintelligible
|virtually unintelligible
|unintelligible speech
|unintelligible mumbling
|unintelligible accent
Synonyms
incomprehensible (Slightly more formal; often used for both language and complex ideas that are very hard to understand.)
|
unclear (More general and less strong; suggests something is not easy to understand but not necessarily impossible.)
|
indecipherable (Often used for writing or recorded sound that cannot be read or made out at all.)
Antonyms
intelligible (Direct technical opposite; means able to be understood.)
|
clear (Focuses on being easy to hear or understand without effort.)
Themes
communication
|language
|core_vocabulary
Definition
Not possible or very hard to understand, usually because the sound or words are not clear.
Impossible or extremely difficult to understand, especially because it is unclear, badly expressed, too quiet, or distorted.
C2
TECHNICAL
2
Usage pattern:
[language/dialect] is unintelligible to [group]
Many Scandinavian languages are partly mutually intelligible, but Finnish is unintelligible to most of their speakers.
Sok skandináv nyelv részben kölcsönösen érthető, de a finn a legtöbb beszélőjük számára érthetetlen.
The village dialect is almost completely unintelligible to speakers from the capital.
A falusi nyelvjárás szinte teljesen érthetetlen a fővárosi beszélők számára.
To English speakers, Basque is unintelligible and unrelated to other major European languages.
These two varieties were once the same language but are now unintelligible to each other’s speakers.
Some dialects of Chinese are so different that they are mutually unintelligible in spoken form.
Learner examples
The local dialect was unintelligible to my friend, who only knew standard Italian.
A helyi nyelvjárás érthetetlen volt a barátom számára, aki csak a köznyelvi olaszt ismerte.
Old English is unintelligible to most modern English speakers without study.
Az óangol a legtöbb mai angol anyanyelvű számára tanulás nélkül érthetetlen.
For many tourists, the signs were unintelligible because they were written in a different script.
To children in the city, the language of the mountain village is unintelligible.
These two dialects sound similar, but they are actually unintelligible to each other’s speakers.
Common mistake:
Learners may not realize this is a somewhat technical use, common in linguistics when talking about relationships between languages. In everyday speech, people more often say a language is "hard to understand" or "I can't understand it" rather than "it is unintelligible".
Meaning
not mutually understandable (of languages)
Collocations
mutually unintelligible
|largely unintelligible to [speakers]
|remain unintelligible to outsiders
|unintelligible to non-native speakers
|unintelligible dialects
Synonyms
not mutually intelligible (More explicit technical phrase in linguistics; often used in descriptions of language relationships.)
|
incomprehensible (Broader word that can also apply; less precise for technical linguistic use.)
Antonyms
mutually intelligible (Technical opposite in linguistics; describes languages whose speakers can understand each other without prior study.)
Themes
language
|linguistics
|communication
|education
Definition
Used for a language or way of speaking that people who speak another language or dialect cannot understand at all.
Used of one language or dialect that cannot be understood by speakers of another language or dialect, especially in linguistic description.
Grammar
Dictionary form
unintelligible
IPA
GB/ˌʌnɪntˈɛləd͡ʒəbəl/
US/ˌʌnɪntˈɛləd͡ʒəbəl/
Syllables & stress
un - in - tel - li - gible (5 syllables)
Stress on 3rd syllable (tel)
Word forms
Adjective
- Base: unintelligible
Word family
Core family
Negative and opposite forms
unintelligibly
adverb
Advanced or less common
unintelligibility
noun
Expressions
mutually unintelligible
1/mjˈut͡ʃuəli ˌʌnɪntˈɛləd͡ʒəbəl/
fixed phrase
technical
languages that cannot be understood crosswise
Used to say that speakers of two different languages or dialects cannot understand each other’s speech at all.
Examples
- The two dialects are mutually unintelligible, so speakers from each region must use a standard language to communicate.
- Although they share many words, the modern and older varieties are now mutually unintelligible in everyday conversation.