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View synonyms for literacy

literacy

[ lit-er-uh-see ]

noun

  1. the quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.
  2. possession of education:

    to question someone's literacy.

    Synonyms: culture, learning

  3. a person's knowledge of a particular subject or field:

    to acquire computer literacy;

    improving your financial literacy.



literacy

/ ˈlɪtərəsɪ /

noun

  1. the ability to read and write
  2. the ability to use language proficiently


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Other Words From

  • anti·liter·a·cy adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of literacy1

First recorded in 1880–85; liter(ate) + -acy

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Example Sentences

Yet for a vivid decade or so, sleaze was, somewhat paradoxically, a force for literacy and empowerment.

Supporters pointed to math and literacy gains, while critics noted that those improvements disappeared in elementary school.

In 2011, all three countries reported less than 50 percent literacy in their adult population.

Guinea, with 25 percent, recorded the lowest adult literacy rate in the world at that time.

There was frenzied uproar when she participated in a literacy program to encourage kids to read.

The proportion of literacy among Hindus and Sikhs is three times as great as among Muhammadans.

The organizers were a well-known literacy charity that ran kids' writing workshops, drama workshops and so on.

In the supremely important subject of literacy, what classification yet devised can weigh the culture of masses of people?

It would seem that the literacy test has been applied to ghosts in recent fiction.

With its literacy similes, its English, its artificial diction, it is a patch of cheap silk upon honest homespun.

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