illiterate
/ɪˈlɪtəɹət/
illiterate adjective: unable to read and write.
Adjective
illiterate (comparative more illiterate, superlative most illiterate)
- Unable to read and write.
- About half of the population in Ethiopia is illiterate.
- If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37
- Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education.
- Ignorant and ſuperſtitious wretches meaſure the actions of letterd and philoſophical men by the tattle of their nurſes or illiterate parents and companions, or by the faſhion of the country : and people of differing religions judge and condemn each other by their own tenents ; when both of them...1722, William Wollaston, “Sect. V. Truths relating to the Deity. Of his exiſtence, perfection, providence, &c.”, in The Religion of Nature Delineated, page 81
- He's illiterate […] Seriously, how did he get into RI?2021 September 15, Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore Parliament debates on 15 September 2021
- Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing.
- Now (exc. in Nautical language, see b) it is only dialectal or an illiterate substitute for lie, its identity of form with the past tense of the latter no doubt accounting largely for the confusion.1908, “lay v.¹”, in James A. H. Murray et al., editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part 1, London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 128
- Ignorant in a specified way or about a specified subject.
- technologically illiterate, economically illiterate, emotionally illiterate
Noun
illiterate (plural illiterates)
- An illiterate person, one either not able to read and write or not knowing how.
- We might also provide education plus reading and writing services to adult illiterates.1993, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 210
- A person ignorant about a given subject. (The relevant subject is usually named as a noun adjunct.)
- Their government is run by business illiterates.
- Sometimes a mathematical illiterate is called an innumerate.
illiterate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
illiterate in Hindi
- unable to read and write
- अशिक्षित aśikṣit, अनपढ़ anpaṛh, निरक्षर nirakṣar
illiterate in Tamil
- தற்குறி எழுத்தறிவற்றவர்
illiterate in Marathi
- unable to read and write
- निरक्षर nirakṣar
illiterate in Urdu
- illiterate
- ان پڑھ anpaṛh
More languagesFewer languages
- illiterate in Bengali
- অকোবিদ okōbid, নিরক্ষর nirôkhôr
- illiterate in Telugu
- నిరక్షరాస్యుడు, నిరక్షరాస్యులు
- illiterate in Malayalam
- പഠിപ്പില്ലാത്ത paṭhippillātta, നിരക്ഷരനായ nirakṣaranāya, നിരക്ഷരൻ nirakṣaraṉ
- illiterate in Kannada
- ಬರಹ ಬಾರದ, ಓದು ಬಾರದ, ಅಕ್ಷರ ಬಾರದ, ಓದಲು ಬಾರದ
- illiterate in Gujarati
- અભણ abhaṇ
- illiterate in Odia
- ମୂର୍ଖ murkha
- illiterate in Nepali
- निरक्षर
- illiterate in Tagalog
- dinulat, maang
- illiterate in Arabic
- أُمِّيّ ʔummiyy
- illiterate in Malay
- tunaaksara, buta huruf
- illiterate in Indonesian
- buta huruf, tunaaksara, niraksara
- illiterate in Persian
- بیسواد bi-savâd
- illiterate in Vietnamese
- dốt nát, mù chữ, thất học
Examples of illiterate in a sentence
- Mark Twain famously said, "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who can't read"; more succinctly: the aliterate has little advantage over the illiterate.
- The worry is that we, as a society, will become innumerate, not just illiterate.
- Doesn't matter if these boys are illiterate mudkickers or college boys.
Synonyms of illiterate
Antonyms
Forms of illiterate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more illiterate |
| superlative | most illiterate |
| alternative form (obsolete) | illitterate |
| Noun | |
| plural | illiterates |
Origin of illiterate
First attested in 1425–1475, in Middle English; from Middle English illiterat(e) (“uneducated, ignorant of Latin”), borrowed from Latin illīterātus, illitterātus (“unlearned, ignorant”), itself from in- (“un-”) + līterātus, litterātus (“furnished with letters”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from lītera, littera (“letter, character”). The noun was derived from the adjective by substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Words formed from illiterate
Questions about illiterate
- What does illiterate mean?
- Illiterate means unable to read and write.
- What is illiterate in Hindi?
- Illiterate in Hindi is अशिक्षित (aśikṣit), अनपढ़ (anpaṛh), निरक्षर (nirakṣar). See Illiterate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is illiterate?
- Illiterate can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce illiterate?
- Illiterate is pronounced /ɪˈlɪtəɹət/.
Words near illiterate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: illiterate (page history and authors); illiterate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ان پڑھ (Urdu) (page history and authors); অকোবিদ (Bengali) (page history and authors); illiterate (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illiterate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ମୂର୍ଖ (Odia) (page history and authors); illiterate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-illiterate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “illiterate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/illiterate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.