How to Use illegible in a Sentence

illegible

adjective
  • The date is filled in, and the illegible name of some pesticide.
    — Elisa Albert, Longreads, 7 May 2018
  • The letters are smudged and the last third of the paragraph is nearly illegible.
    — New York Times, 11 June 2021
  • The headstones for the most part are weathered and illegible, but several have dates of deaths in the mid-1800s.
    — Richard Mason, Arkansas Online, 13 Dec. 2020
  • The fragment, which takes on the shape of what looks like Africa and parts of East Asia, is completely illegible.
    — Susie Schmank, Indianapolis Star, 7 Oct. 2017
  • Image From the ground, though, looking up, the work is a glowing, cherry smudge — the idea of a sign, but illegible.
    — Martha Schwendener, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
  • An image that looks great at a small size on a large screen might become tiny and illegible when scaled down on a small screen.
    — Rob Weychert, ProPublica, 4 Feb. 2022
  • The county recorder’s office deemed it illegible and did not record the transfer.
    — Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2022
  • In addition, an illegible word was written on the back of the statue, and blue paint was spattered around the base.
    — Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY, 24 July 2019
  • The Farsi text is illegible to most viewers, and even those who can read the language would not know the real meaning of the poems.
    — Max Norman, ARTnews.com, 9 Dec. 2024
  • A face with reptilian eyes appears on the back of a white van covered in enough dirt to make the license plate all but illegible.
    — Pavel Golovkin, The Denver Post, 28 Apr. 2017
  • But way too many of its scenes take place in tedious, illegible darkness.
    — New York Times, 22 Apr. 2021
  • The full original date on this photo from The Star’s archives is illegible, but the year is clearly 1950.
    — kansascity, 7 Feb. 2018
  • Inscriptions on the walls of the entrance reference the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, but the name of the king buried within the tomb is illegible.
    — Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2025
  • The scholar, though, refused to allow her labor, her work, or her voice, which is so clear on the page, be rendered illegible.
    — Kirsten West Savali, Essence, 25 Nov. 2020
  • Sometimes the names on census forms are illegible or spelled differently from one year to the next.
    — Tracy Scott Forson, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2024
  • Also that thing where sometimes if text is illegible a model might just invent the text.
    — Ars Technica, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Small-size black ink against a gray background is almost illegible.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2024
  • All six were partially slashed in the attack, which left at least one largely illegible.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 25 July 2024
  • Or what if the Russians one day hacked into a driverless car networks and sent all of the Democratic voters to the wrong precinct, making them illegible to vote?
    — Nick Bilton, vanityfair.com, 27 Sep. 2017
  • Or what if the Russians one day hacked into a driverless car networks and sent all of the Democratic voters to the wrong precinct, making them illegible to vote?
    — Nick Bilton, The Hive, 27 Sep. 2017
  • Much like Littlefinger's scroll, the font was pretty illegible at first glance.
    — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Gina Costa found that the city overpaid for work, and that tow slips were incomplete or illegible.
    — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
  • But the painting was difficult to see, and key details were almost illegible in the context of San Moise.
    — Washington Post, 27 June 2019
  • For me, writing on a phone screen was even more illegible, leading to lots of transcription errors.
    — Larry Magid, The Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2019
  • The thirty-thousand-year-old cave paintings at Chauvet–Pont d’Arc are ghostly images from the abyss of deep time whose purpose is illegible to us.
    — Donna Tartt, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
  • One call center agent said the issue was that his paperwork was illegible.
    — Washington Post, 21 Dec. 2021
  • One call center agent said the issue was that his paperwork was illegible.
    — Hannah Dreier, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Dec. 2021
  • One call center agent said the issue was that his paperwork was illegible.
    — Hannah Dreier, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Dec. 2021
  • One call center agent said the issue was that his paperwork was illegible.
    — Hannah Dreier, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Dec. 2021
  • One call center agent said the issue was that his paperwork was illegible.
    — Hannah Dreier, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Dec. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illegible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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