illiterate

American  

[ih-lit-er-it] / ɪˈlɪt ər ɪt /

adjective

1. unable to read and write.

   an illiterate group.

2. having or demonstrating very little or no education.

3. showing lack of culture, especially in language and literature.

4. displaying a marked lack of knowledge in a particular field.

   He is musically illiterate.

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noun

• illiterates
  plural

1. an illiterate person.

illiterate British  

/ ɪˈlɪtərɪt /

adjective

1. unable to read and write

2. violating accepted standards in reading and writing

   an illiterate scrawl

3. uneducated, ignorant, or uncultured

   scientifically illiterate

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noun

1. an illiterate person

Synonym Usage

See ignorant.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• illiteracy
  noun
• illiterateness
  noun
• semi-illiterateness
  noun
• semi-illiterate
  adjective
• illiterately
  adverb
• semi-illiterately
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• illiterates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of illiterate

First recorded in 1550–60, illiterate is from the Latin word illiterātus unlettered. See il- ², literate

Explanation

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.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

illiterate illiterates

Parton's extraordinarily successful book project was born of personal anguish: her own father grew up illiterate in rural Tennessee.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

That guidance suggests that teenage girls in particular are illiterate about their own bodies, and as a result make poor health decisions.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

He speaks Old English and is illiterate, though his culture is rich in poetry and heroic tales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

In this adaptation, Anna Bowden had been Cady’s defense attorney, and he’s no longer an illiterate rube but a successful restaurateur who was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

He remembered hearing his illiterate mother reciting poetry and speaking in a tongue that sounded like Latin when she was very ill with typhoid fever.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

Carlson at one point complained about “the illiterates posing as political analysts on your TV,” presumably on rival networks.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2020

“In history, our leaders were poets and scholars, but when Russia invaded, warlords and illiterates emerged in power,” said Qudratullah Zaki, 45, an ethnic Uzbek legislator and an ally of Ghani.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2016

Thus, contract laborers were excluded in 1885, immoral persons and anarchists in 1903, and illiterates in 1917.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2016

Female illiteracy levels in India are high; indeed it is estimated that there are more female illiterates in India than in the rest of the world combined.

From Forbes ● Feb. 23, 2015

Of this number of native white illiterates, 1,443,956—two-thirds of the whole—are reported from the States lately known as Slave States.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880. by Various

Related Words

• ignorant
• uneducated