intelligible

adjective

in·​tel·​li·​gi·​ble in-ˈte-lə-jə-bəl 

1

: capable of being understood or comprehended

jargon intelligible only to the initiated

2

: apprehensible by the intellect only

intelligibility

in-ˌte-lə-jə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

intelligibleness

in-ˈte-lə-jə-bəl-nəs 

noun

intelligibly

in-ˈte-lə-jə-blē 

adverb

Synonyms

• accessible
• apprehensible
• coherent
• comprehendible
• comprehensible
• fathomable
• graspable
• legible
• scrutable
• understandable

Examples of intelligible in a Sentence

the ability to make complex concepts intelligible to the average reader

Very little of the recording was intelligible.

Recent Examples on the Web

The findings have led some researchers to suggest that RNA may be a molecular lingua franca that transcends traditional taxonomic boundaries and can therefore encode messages that remain intelligible across the tree of life. —Annie Melchor, WIRED, 13 Oct. 2024

Intergenerational conversations are getting less and less intelligible, some said. —Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC News, 10 Aug. 2024

To reconstruct an intelligible sentence from noisy speech, a certain percentage of time-frequency units must be labeled 1. —IEEE Spectrum, 6 Dec. 2016

And the question going forward though will be how much standard is required to create a boundary and to satisfy the intelligible principle of what did Congress actually do. —Tax Notes Staff, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin intelligibilis, from intelligere

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

intelligible

adjective

in·​tel·​li·​gi·​ble in-ˈtel-ə-jə-bəl 

: able to be understood

intelligibility

-ˌtel-ə-jə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

noun

intelligibleness

-ˈtel-ə-jə-bəl-nəs 

noun

intelligibly

-blē 

adverb