litterate

Adjective

literate (comparative more literate, superlative most literate)

1. Able to read and write; having literacy.
   • Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 86

   Antonyms:

   illiterate

2. Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.
   • The reason literature plays a unique role in any literate culture is its longevity.2008 January 7, Charles Hugh Smith, Can a Fragmented Culture Find Common Ground?
3. Which is used in writing (of a language or dialect).
   • The Mongol emperor Kublai Khan even commissioned an alphabetic script for his empire, to be used officially for all its literate languages, Mongolian, Chinese, Turkic and Persian.2005, Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, Harper
4. (broadly) Able to understand and evaluate something.
   • I don’t have a college degree. I was never a standout student. And yet, I became financially literate—not just in my personal life, but in running a small company.2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2026

See all 6 meanings of literate