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# unintelligibility

«unintelligibility» in Mova's school dictionary: **the state of being impossible or very hard to understand…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (unintelligibility — uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

(formal) Unintelligibility is the state of being impossible or very hard to understand, especially speech or writing that cannot be made out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

A formal, long word used about speech, handwriting, radio signals and messages. In language and science talk: the unintelligibility of a noisy signal, or of two languages to each other's speakers. In everyday talk say «you can't make it out».

### examples

- The unintelligibility of the old letter made it hard to read. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x1)
- The radio message crackled into unintelligibility. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x2)
- Mumbling leads to unintelligibility. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x3)
- The unintelligibility of the code kept the secret safe. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x4)
- Teachers complained about the unintelligibility of his handwriting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x5)
- Two dialects can drift towards unintelligibility over centuries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/#x6)

### note

Uncountable and very formal. Built from «intelligible» (able to be understood) + «un-» + «-ity». It has nothing to do with being unintelligent.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «unintelligibility» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unintelligibility/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.