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View synonyms for illiterate

illiterate

[ ih-lit-er-it ]

adjective

  1. unable to read and write:

    an illiterate group.

  2. having or demonstrating very little or no education.
  3. showing lack of culture, especially in language and literature.
  4. displaying a marked lack of knowledge in a particular field:

    He is musically illiterate.



noun

  1. an illiterate person.

illiterate

/ ɪˈlɪtərɪt /

adjective

  1. unable to read and write
  2. violating accepted standards in reading and writing

    an illiterate scrawl

  3. uneducated, ignorant, or uncultured

    scientifically illiterate



noun

  1. an illiterate person

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Derived Forms

  • ilˈliteracy, noun
  • ilˈliterately, adverb

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Other Words From

  • il·liter·ate·ly adverb
  • il·liter·ate·ness noun
  • semi-il·liter·ate adjective
  • semi-il·liter·ate·ly adverb
  • semi-il·liter·ate·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of illiterate1

First recorded in 1550–60, illiterate is from the Latin word illiterātus unlettered. See il- 2, literate

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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

For my technologically illiterate mother, the idea of paying bills online provokes as much anxiety as throwing something away.

Her mother was illiterate, but she secured a tutor for both her sons and her daughters, and Juana could read by the age of 3.

“At first I was happy to be learning to read,” explains the hapless adult illiterate Office Barbrady in an early episode.

An ICRW survey in Afghanistan in 2010 found that 71 percent of parents who married off their daughters were illiterate.

Libya was then the poorest country in the world and nearly illiterate.

The second step taken arose from the necessity of making this speech of the illiterate capable of elevated expression.

But at a period more piously illiterate, things of this shadowy nature were linked very closely to objects of a material kind.

Illiterate but romantic, she was swept off her feet at the first touch of passion, and the flattery of being recognized!

It accordingly searches out illiterate children of school age, or persons smitten with infectious disease.

The final d is also omitted by illiterate speakers; Usted is pronounced Uste, and even de becomes e. B and v are interchangeable.

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