un·let·tered

(ŭn-lĕt′ərd)

adj.

a. Not adept at reading and writing; deficient in the knowledge that can be acquired from books.

b. Illiterate.

2. Having no lettering: a plain, unlettered T-shirt.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

unlettered

(ʌnˈlɛtəd)

adj

1. (Education) uneducated; illiterate

2. not marked with letters: an unlettered tombstone.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

un•let•tered

(ʌnˈlɛt ərd)

adj.

1. uneducated; untutored; ignorant.

2. illiterate.

3. not marked with letters, as a tombstone.

[1300–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	unlettered - having little acquaintance with writing; "special tutorials to assist the unlettered sector of society" analphabetic illiterate - not able to read or write
	2.	unlettered - uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication; "an ignorant man"; "nescient of contemporary literature"; "an unlearned group incapable of understanding complex issues"; "exhibiting contempt for his unlettered companions" ignorant, nescient, unlearned uneducated - not having a good education

unlettered

adjective uneducated, ignorant, illiterate, unlearned, untutored, unschooled, untaught Such misconceptions have not been confined to the unlettered masses.
educated, literate, learned, schooled, taught, tutored

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

illetterato

unlettered

[ˈʌnˈletəd] ADJ → indocto

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

unlettered

adj → ungebildet; (= illiterate) → analphabetisch attr

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant's face, in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale's brow?

View in context

This public exhibition of the tulip was an act of adoration rendered by an entire nation, unlettered and unrefined, to the refinement and culture of its illustrious and devout leaders, whose blood had stained the foul pavement of the Buytenhof, reserving the right at a future day to inscribe the names of its victims upon the highest stone of the Dutch Pantheon.

View in context

Yet, thanks to our good chancellor, I am not wholly unlettered. I have read Ockham, Bradwardine, and other of the schoolmen, together with the learned Duns Scotus and the book of the holy Aquinas."

View in context

They were short days, for into them were crowded many hours of insidious instruction of the unlettered child by the lonely woman.

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On points where the learned have, in purity of heart, been compelled to differ, the unlettered will necessarily be at variance.

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They were poor people and unlettered. They came of generations of poor unlettered people--peasants of the sea who sowed their sons on the waves as has been their custom since time began.

View in context

And yet I found Colonel Ingram situated the same as the unlettered mechanics.

View in context

Oh, well-a-day and lack-a-day, the whirligig of time and fortune, the topsyturviness of luck, the wooden shoe going up and the polished heel descending a French gunboat, a conquered island kingdom of Oceania, to-day ruled over by a peasant-born, unlettered, colonial gendarme, and .

View in context

The latter more than once received from his lips curses as sententious and as complicated as that celebrated anathema of the church, for a knowledge of which most unlettered Protestants are indebted to the pious researches of the worthy Tristram Shandy.

View in context

Najman Bua in her unlettered way was a quiet admirer of Nehru.

To the last tamarind leaf

His legislative successes in enacting pro-poor social legislations continue to endear him to the unlettered and the unwashed.

Posterity will judge our public officials

Considering the fact that badly educated people are no better than those who are illiterate and unlettered, use of unfair means and other corrupt practices ought to be dealt with an iron hand.

Cheating in exams