Meaning

Unable to read and write..

Definitions by Sense

1. Unable to read and write.
2. Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education.
3. Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing.
4. Ignorant in a specified way or about a specified subject.
5. An illiterate person, one either not able to read and write or not knowing how.
6. A person ignorant about a given subject. (The relevant subject is usually named as a noun adjunct.)

Example Sentences

About half of the population in Ethiopia is illiterate.

If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.

Not always does this ruse succeed however. The railways have undertaken publicity warning passengers about it, and have made a big difference in the appearance of long distance and short distance tickets, so that the most illiterate person can see the distinction. Some of these swindlers have been caught.

Ignorant and ſuperſtitious wretches meaſure the actions of letterd and philoſophical men by the tattle of their nurſes or illiterate parents and companions, or by the faſhion of the country : and people of differing religions judge and condemn each other by their own tenents ; when both of them cannot be in the right, and it is well if either of them are.

He's illiterate […] Seriously, how did he get into RI?

Now (exc. in Nautical language, see b) it is only dialectal or an illiterate substitute for lie, its identity of form with the past tense of the latter no doubt accounting largely for the confusion.

technologically illiterate, economically illiterate, emotionally illiterate

We might also provide education plus reading and writing services to adult illiterates.

Word Forms

• more illiterate
• most illiterate
• illitterate
• illiterates

Synonyms for illiterate

Antonyms for illiterate

Related Words

When Should You Use Illiterate?

Use illiterate when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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