legible

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leg·i·ble

(lĕj′ə-bəl)

adj.

1. Possible to read or decipher: legible handwriting.

2. Plainly discernible; apparent: a legible weakness in disposition.

[Middle English, from Late Latin legibilis, from Latin legere, to read; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

leg′i·bil′i·ty, leg′i·ble·ness n.

leg′i·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

legible

(ˈlɛdʒəbəl)

adj

1. (of handwriting, print, etc) able to be read or deciphered

2. able to be discovered; discernible

[C14: from Late Latin legibilis, from Latin legere to read]

ˌlegiˈbility, ˈlegibleness n

ˈlegibly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

leg•i•ble

(ˈlɛdʒ ə bəl)

adj.

1. capable of being read or deciphered, esp. with ease, as writing or printing.

2. capable of being discerned or distinguished: Anger was legible in his behavior.

[1400–50; late Middle English < Latin legibilis <legere to read]

leg`i•bil′i•ty, n.

leg′i•bly, adv.

readable

– legible

1. 'readable'

If you say that a book or article is readable, you mean that it is interesting and not boring or difficult to understand.

He has written a most readable and entertaining autobiography.

2. 'legible'

If you can recognize the letters and words that a piece of writing consists of, you do not say that the writing is 'readable'. You say that it is legible.

The inscription is still perfectly legible.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.

legible - (of handwriting, print, etc.) capable of being read or deciphered; "legible handwriting"

illegible - (of handwriting, print, etc.) not legible; "illegible handwriting"

legible

adjective readable, clear, plain, bold, neat, distinct, easy to read, easily read, decipherable My handwriting isn't very legible.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

سَهْل القِراءَه ، مَقْروءمَقْرُوءٌ

čitelný

læselig

leserlich

ευανάγνωστος

legible

luettavalukukelpoinen

lisible

čitljiv

olvasható

læsilegur

leggibile leggibilit...leggibilmente

読みやすい

읽기 쉬운

įskaitomaiįskaitomasįskaitomumas

salasāmsskaidrs

разборчивый отчетливый

čitljiv

läslig

อ่านออกได้

okunabilirokunaklı

dễ đọc

易读的清晰可读的

legible

[ˈledʒəbl] ADJ → legible

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

legible

[ˈlɛdʒɪb^əl] adj → lisible
barely legible → à peine lisible

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

legible

adj → lesbar; handwriting also → leserlich

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

legible

[ˈlɛdʒəbl] adj → leggibile

legible

(ˈledʒəbl) adjective

clear enough to be read. The writing was faded but still legible.

ˈlegibly adverb

ˌlegiˈbility noun

legible

→ مَقْرُوءٌ čitelný læselig leserlich ευανάγνωστος legible lukukelpoinen lisible čitljiv leggibile 読みやすい 읽기 쉬운 leesbaar leselig czytelny legível отчетливый läslig อ่านออกได้ okunaklı dễ đọc 易读的

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References in classic literature ?

Therefore, though the whole point of his "Current Shorthand" is that it can express every sound in the language perfectly, vowels as well as consonants, and that your hand has to make no stroke except the easy and current ones with which you write m, n, and u, l, p, and q, scribbling them at whatever angle comes easiest to you, his unfortunate determination to make this remarkable and quite legible script serve also as a Shorthand reduced it in his own practice to the most inscrutable of cryptograms.

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(with nothing legible but the two words "Bond Street"), and there was an end of Sir Jervis's proposal.

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Only here and there was a sentence or a part of a sentence legible. The first that I could read was near the middle of the little volume:

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[At this place the entry in the Diary ceases to be legible. The two or three lines which follow contain fragments of words only, mingled with blots and scratches of the pen.

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My writing is at least legible, neat, and pleasant to look upon--and his Excellency is satisfied with it.

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Taking for granted (what was perhaps doubtful enough) that the fragments of the letter could be recovered, my own conviction was that the writing on them, though it might be faded, would certainly still be legible. The very accumulations which Mr.

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* * * don't think of me * * *" There was a little more, but not so much as one word, in those last lines, was legible

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He corroborated every circumstance which the other had deposed; nay, he produced the record upon his breast, where the handwriting of Mr Jones remained very legible in black and blue.

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The petitioner, the widow of a staff captain Kalinin, came with a request impossible and unreasonable; but Stepan Arkadyevitch, as he generally did, made her sit down, heard her to the end attentively without interrupting her, and gave her detailed advice as to how and to whom to apply, and even wrote her, in his large, sprawling, good and legible hand, a confident and fluent little note to a personage who might be of use to her.

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But sometimes a letter may be legible even when burned.

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Pretending to read a smeary newspaper long out of date, which had nothing half so legible in its local news, as the foreign matter of coffee, pickles, fish-sauces, gravy, melted butter, and wine, with which it was sprinkled all over, as if it had taken the measles in a highly irregular form, I sat at my table while he stood before the fire.

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But what distressed him greatly was not having another hermit there to confess him and receive consolation from; and so he solaced himself with pacing up and down the little meadow, and writing and carving on the bark of the trees and on the fine sand a multitude of verses all in harmony with his sadness, and some in praise of Dulcinea; but, when he was found there afterwards, the only ones completely legible that could be discovered were those that follow here: