: showing or marked by a lack of acquaintance with the fundamentals of a particular field of knowledge
musically illiterate
3
a
: violating approved patterns of speaking or writing
b
: showing or marked by a lack of familiarity with language and literature
an illiterate magazine
illiteratenoun
illiteratelyadverb
illiteratenessnoun
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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.
ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing.
an ignorant fool
ignorant of nuclear physics
illiterate applies to either an absolute or a relative inability to read and write.
much of the population is still illiterate
unlettered implies ignorance of the knowledge gained by reading.
an allusion meaningless to the unlettered
untutored may imply lack of schooling in the arts and ways of civilization.
strange monuments built by an untutored people
unlearned suggests ignorance of advanced subjects.
poetry not for academics but for the unlearned masses
Example Sentences
Constantine is listed in the 1870 census as illiterate; 10 years later, he had learned to read and write. And when, in 1906, the local "colored school" was slated for destruction, Constantine arranged to save it by having it moved to this property. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 1 Feb. 2006Martin is not illiterate but I think close to it. I never saw him read a newspaper, for instance. Hayden Carruth, Reluctantly, 1998In 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
Recent Examples on the WebConversely, only 36% of men receive no education, and 46.7% of men are illiterate. 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
Etymology
Middle English, from Latin illiteratus, from in- + litteratus literate