illiterate
Other forms: illiterates; illiterately
You can describe a person unable to read or write as illiterate. Karaoke, which involves singing out the words to songs as they scroll across a big screen, requires the ability to read. If you’re illiterate, you won’t be able to participate.
Illiterate, from the Latin illiteratus “unlearned, ignorant,” can describe someone unable to read or write, but it can also imply that a person lacks cultural awareness. However, Walt Whitman saw a unique beauty to illiteracy: “There is that indescribable freshness and unconsciousness about an illiterate person that humbles and mocks the power of the noblest expressive genius.”
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not able to read or writesynonyms:uneducatedhaving or showing little to no background in schoolingfunctionally illiteratehaving reading and writing skills insufficient for ordinary practical needspreliteratenot yet having acquired the ability to read and writesemiliteratebarely able to read and writesemiliterateable to read but not to writeantonyms:literateable to read and write
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uneducated in the fundamentals of a given art or branch of learning; lacking knowledge of a specific field“he is musically illiterate”synonyms: ignorantuneducatedhaving or showing little to no background in schooling
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lacking culture, especially in language and literatureantonyms:literateversed in literature; dealing with literatureeducatedpossessing an education (especially having more than average knowledge)belletristicwritten and regarded for aesthetic value rather than contentliteraryknowledgeable about literaturesophisticatedhaving or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement and savoir-faire
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a person unable to readsynonyms: illiterate person, nonreadertypes:functional illiteratea person with some ability to read and write but not enough for daily practical needstype of:
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- Chicago
Vocabulary lists containing illiterate
An ordinary Pakistani girl is shot by the Taliban while fighting for her right to an education. Co-written with Patricia McCormick, in this memoir, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, tells her story.
Freak the Mighty tells the story of an unlikely friendship between an awkward, lumbering outcast and a physically challenged genius. Together, the two boys become a force for good.
Arnold Spirit, Jr., a young cartoonist who lives on the Spokane Indian reservation, decides to transfer to a school in which he will be the only American Indian student.