indecipherable

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌɪn.dɪˈsaɪ.fɚ.ə.bəl/ UK /ˌɪn.dɪˈsaɪ.fər.ə.bəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #52725

Meanings

1

adj
impossible or extremely difficult to read or decode

Rain had made the address on the envelope indecipherable.
2

adj
impossible or extremely difficult to understand or interpret

Without a legend, the densely marked chart was indecipherable.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · impossible or extremely... illegible unreadableundecipherable

2 adj · impossible or extremely... incomprehensible obscure unintelligible

Opposites

decipherablelegible intelligible

Word family

Derived forms indecipherabilityindecipherablenessindecipherably

Related forms decipher cipherundecipherable

Etymology

Formed from the negative prefix in- + decipherable. Decipher is built on cipher, which entered English through Old French and Medieval Latin from Arabic ṣifr ("zero, empty"). The idea developed from interpreting numerical ciphers to reading any encoded or obscure material.

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# indecipherable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌɪn.dɪˈsaɪ.fɚ.ə.bəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌɪn.dɪˈsaɪ.fər.ə.bəl/
**Frequency rank:** 52725

## Meanings
1. impossible or extremely difficult to read or decode
2. impossible or extremely difficult to understand or interpret

## Examples
- Rain had made the address on the envelope indecipherable.
- Without a legend, the densely marked chart was indecipherable.

## Synonyms
- illegible
- unreadable
- incomprehensible
- obscure

## Antonyms
- decipherable
- legible
- intelligible

## Derived Forms
- indecipherability
- indecipherableness
- indecipherably

## Related Forms
- decipher
- cipher
- undecipherable

## Etymology
Formed from the negative prefix in- + decipherable. Decipher is built on cipher, which entered English through Old French and Medieval Latin from Arabic ṣifr ("zero, empty"). The idea developed from interpreting numerical ciphers to reading any encoded or obscure material.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown