illiterate
adjective
Did you know?
Illiterate, Aliterate, and Innumerate
Illiterate may be used in both specific and general senses. When used specifically, it refers to the inability to read or write. In a more general sense, illiterate may signify a lack of familiarity with some body of knowledge (as in being "musically illiterate") or indicate a lack of competence in or familiarity with literature.
Illiteracy may be contrasted with aliteracy, which is “the quality or state of being able to read but uninterested in doing so.” And in case you were wondering, a person who is unable to understand or perform basic mathematics, as opposed to reading, is innumerate.
Synonyms
- ungrammatical
Example Sentences
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 1 Feb. 2006 Martin is not illiterate but I think close to it. I never saw him read a newspaper, for instance. Hayden Carruth, Reluctantly, 1998 In a time when nearly everyone was illiterate, before newspapers, radio, and television, how could the religious and iconographic detail of these apparitions have been so similar? Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, 1996 She didn't want anyone to know that she was illiterate. She is politically illiterate and has never voted in an election. He's illiterate when it comes to computers. See More Jasmine Browley, Essence, 14 July 2022 Jude, who like all Lapvonians is illiterate, beats Marek and throw shovels at him and knocks out his teeth. New York Times, 13 June 2022 The day of the nikah, my sister and I are frantic helping to fix everything that has been done wrong by the tradesmen and laborers who have set it all up with the crooked eye and cheerful laziness of the illiterate. Rafil Kroll-zaidi, Harper’s Magazine , 4 Jan. 2022 The era resists surety: During that time in Europe—and these references are almost always made to Europe—the majority of people, including virtually all peasants, were illiterate. Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 6 May 2022 There’s also the fact that, in Cleveland, sixty-six per cent of residents are functionally illiterate, according to a Case Western Reserve University study; in certain neighborhoods, the rate is above ninety per cent. Clare Malone, The New Yorker, 3 Feb. 2022 Given that Akbar was illiterate (due in part to dyslexia), Abu’l-Fazl must surely have written his history to be read aloud, which makes the music of the language all the more important. Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2022 From the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, millions of Spaniards emigrated to the Americas, among them 350,000 Asturians alone, a large number of whom were illiterate. John Oseid, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2021 The baseball player was, according to ESPN, illiterate and avoided signing documents, with his wife mostly forging his signature. Lindsay Kimble, PEOPLE.com, 8 Oct. 2021 See More Word History
Middle English, from Latin illiteratus, from in- + litteratus literate
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing illiterate
Kids Definition
illiterate 1 of 2
adjective
illiterate
2 of 2noun
illiterate 1 of 2
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- ungrammatical
- substandard
- unidiomatic
- nonstandard
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- grammatical
- idiomatic
Synonyms & Similar Words
- ignorant
- uneducated
- unschooled
- inexperienced
- untutored
- nonliterate
- unlettered
- dark
- untaught
- benighted
- unlearned
- uninstructed
- simple
- semiliterate
- rude
- innocent
- unread
- naive
- uncultured
- unknowledgeable
- unsophisticated
- stupid
- analphabetic
- foolish
- unskilled
- innumerate
- artless
- dumb
- imbecile
- idiotic
- functionally illiterate
- uncultivated
- untrained
- philistine
- lowbrow
- moronic
- callow
- green
- witless
- naïve
- brainless
- imbecilic
- silly
- idiotical
- senseless
- raw
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- literate
- educated
- intelligent
- knowledgeable
- brilliant
- schooled
- smart
- expert
- lettered
- trained
- experienced
- erudite
- intellectual
- scholarly
- well-read
- learned
- well-informed
- cultured
- sophisticated
- aware
- cultivated
- highbrow
- familiar
- acquainted
- polymathic
- polymath
- polyhistoric
illiterate
2 of 2noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- ignoramus
- lowbrow
- philistine
- know-nothing
- imbecile
- idiot
- moron
- ass
- dolt
- anti-intellectual
- donkey
- dunce
- fool
- jackass
- knucklehead
- blockhead
- numbskull
- numskull
- pinhead
- dope
- goon
- nitwit
- dummy
- half-wit
- fathead
- hammerhead
- dodo
- dumbbell
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- polymath
- intellect
- genius
- brain
- wizard
- whiz
- thinker
- wiz
- brainiac
- intellectual
- polyhistor
- bluestocking
- Renaissance man
- highbrow
- Renaissance woman
- blue
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of illiterate are ignorant, unlearned, unlettered, and untutored. While all these words mean "not having knowledge," illiterate applies to either an absolute or a relative inability to read and write.
While the synonyms ignorant and illiterate are close in meaning, ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing.
The synonyms unlearned and illiterate are sometimes interchangeable, but unlearned suggests ignorance of advanced subjects.
The meanings of unlettered and illiterate largely overlap; however, unlettered implies ignorance of the knowledge gained by reading.
In some situations, the words untutored and illiterate are roughly equivalent. However, untutored may imply lack of schooling in the arts and ways of civilization.