illiterate
adjective
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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.
Examples of illiterate in a Sentence
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.
Odiri Oginni, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
In other words, nearly all of Singapore’s secondary school students have sufficient skills for the world of work, while almost three-quarters of South Africa’s youth are functionally illiterate.
—Jim Yong Kim, Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2018
Hesiod, formerly an illiterate shepherd, claimed that he was inspired to write the poem when a beautiful goddess whispered the story in his ear.
—Alison Habens, JSTOR Daily, 31 Oct. 2024
Back in the United States, President Joe Biden proposed a national rent control, an idea that’s economically illiterate and probably unconstitutional.
—Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for illiterate 
Dictionary Entries Near illiterate
Cite this Entry
“Illiterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illiterate. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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illiterate
adjective
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