INTELLIGIBLE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of being apprehended or understood

Synonyms:

apprehensible; graspable; intelligible; perceivable; understandable

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

comprehendible; comprehensible (capable of being comprehended or understood)

Derivation:

intelligibility (the quality of language that is comprehensible)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Well articulated or enunciated, and loud enough to be heard distinctly

Example:

intelligible pronunciation

Classified under:

Adjectives

Also:

comprehendible; comprehensible (capable of being comprehended or understood)

Antonym:

unintelligible (poorly articulated or enunciated, or drowned by noise)

Derivation:

intelligibility (the quality of language that is comprehensible)

Credits

Context examples:

The carriage was soon announced to be ready; and Catherine, instantly rising, a long and affectionate embrace supplied the place of language in bidding each other adieu; and, as they entered the hall, unable to leave the house without some mention of one whose name had not yet been spoken by either, she paused a moment, and with quivering lips just made it intelligible that she left her kind remembrance for her absent friend.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He was a stern, gaunt man, with a harsh voice, and an aggressive manner, but he had the merit of knowing how to assimilate the ideas of other men, and to pass them on in a way which was intelligible and even interesting to the lay public, with a happy knack of being funny about the most unlikely objects, so that the precession of the Equinox or the formation of a vertebrate became a highly humorous process as treated by him.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But that evening Jo fancied that Beth's eyes rested on the lively, dark face beside her with peculiar pleasure, and that she listened with intense interest to an account of some exciting cricket match, though the phrases, 'caught off a tice', 'stumped off his ground', and 'the leg hit for three', were as intelligible to her as Sanskrit.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I trust I rendered tolerably intelligible my appointment for the morning of this day week, at the house of public entertainment at Canterbury, where Mrs. Micawber and myself had once the honour of uniting our voices to yours, in the well-known strain of the Immortal exciseman nurtured beyond the Tweed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was the only intelligible motive.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear: very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Harriet could not very soon give an intelligible account.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

If we wait a little, Watson, I don’t doubt that the affair will grow more intelligible.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You know I granted the reality of matter only in order to make myself intelligible to your understanding.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The conclusion was scarcely intelligible from increasing fright, for she found that Mr. Crawford, under pretence of receiving the note, was coming towards her.