illiterate

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Related to illiterate: illiteracy

illiterate

unable to read and write; having little or no formal education: He has a lot of native intelligence but he is illiterate.

Not to be confused with:

alliterate – to use two or more words having the same initial sound, as in: Sister Suzie sews shirts for sixty-six seasick sailors.

il·lit·er·ate

(ĭ-lĭt′ər-ĭt)

adj.

a. Unable to read and write.

b. Having little or no formal education.

a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature: an illiterate magazine.

b. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing: a paragraph with several illiterate expressions.

3. Ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge: musically illiterate. See Usage Note at literate.

1. A person who is illiterate.

2. (used with a pl. verb) People who are illiterate, considered as a group.

[Middle English, from Latin illīterātus : in-, not; see in-¹ + līterātus, literate; see literate.]

il·lit′er·ate·ly adv.

il·lit′er·ate·ness n.

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.

illiterate

(ɪˈlɪtərɪt)

adj

1. unable to read and write

2. violating accepted standards in reading and writing: an illiterate scrawl.

3. uneducated, ignorant, or uncultured: scientifically illiterate.

an illiterate person

ilˈliteracy, ilˈliterateness n

ilˈliterately adv

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

il•lit•er•ate

(ɪˈlɪt ər ɪt)

adj.

1. unable to read and write.

2. having or demonstrating little education.

3. showing lack of culture.

4. displaying a marked lack of knowledge in a particular field: musically illiterate.

5. an illiterate person.

[1550–60; < Latin illiterātus]

il•lit′er•ate•ly, adv.

il•lit′er•ate•ness, n.

syn: See ignorant.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	illiterate - a person unable to read illiterate person, nonreader analphabet, analphabetic - an illiterate person who does not know the alphabet functional illiterate - a person with some ability to read and write but not enough for daily practical needs ignoramus, know nothing, uneducated person - an ignorant person
Adj.	1.	illiterate - not able to read or write uneducated - not having a good education literate - able to read and write
	2.	illiterate - uneducated in the fundamentals of a given art or branch of learning; lacking knowledge of a specific field; "she is ignorant of quantum mechanics"; "he is musically illiterate" ignorant uneducated - not having a good education
	3.	illiterate - lacking culture, especially in language and literature literate - versed in literature; dealing with literature

illiterate

adjective

1. uneducated, ignorant, unlettered, unable to read and write, analphabetic A large percentage of the population is illiterate.
uneducated lettered, educated, literate

2. ignorant, unaware, inexperienced, blind, innocent, unconscious, in the dark, oblivious, unwitting, uninitiated, uninformed, benighted, untutored, unknowing, out of the loop, unenlightened, unschooled, unlettered, untaught Many senior managers are technologically illiterate.
ignorant aware, taught, tutored

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

illiterate

adjective

Without education or knowledge:

ignorant, nescient, uneducated, uninstructed, unlearned, unschooled, untaught.

Translations

أُمِّيٌّأُمّـي، لا يَعْرِف القِراءه والكِتابَهغَيْر مُتَعَلِّم

negramotnýnevzdělaný

analfabetanalfabetiskuuddannet

ungebildet Analphabet Analphabetin analphabetisch ungelehrt

αγράμματος αναλφάβητος

analfabeto iletrado

lukutaidotonsivistymätönkouluja käymätön

analphabète illettré ignorant

nepismen

analfabétaírástudatlantanulatlan

ólæs og óskrifandiómenntaîur

analfabeta incolto

読み書きのできない

문맹의

mažaraštisneraštingasneraštingumas

analfabētisksneizglītots

analfabeet ongeletterdongeletterde

analfabet ikke lese- og skrivekyndig som ikke kan lese og skrive uutdannet

niepiśmienny

analfabeto

неграмотный безграмотный

negramotnýnevzdelaný

nepismen

analfabet

ไม่สามารถอ่านและเขียนได้

cahil okuma yazması olmayanokuması yazması olmayan

mù chữ

不识字的文盲的未受教育的

illiterate

[ɪˈlɪtərɪt]

A. ADJ [person] (= unable to read or write) → analfabeto; (= ignorant) → ignorante, inculto; [letter, handwriting] → plagado de faltas
to be functionally illiterate → ser un analfabeto funcional
he's sexually illiterate → en materia sexual está en mantillas

B. N → analfabeto/a m/f

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

illiterate

[ɪˈlɪtərət] adj

[person] → illettré(e)

[letter, writing] → plein(e) de fautesill luck n → malchance fill-mannered [ˌɪlˈmænə^rd] adj [person, behaviour] → inconvenant(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

illiterate

adj → des Schreibens und Lesens unkundig; country, population → analphabetisch; (= badly-educated, uncultured) person → ungebildet, unwissend; letter → voller Fehler; he’s illiterate → er ist Analphabet; to be functionally illiterate → praktisch nicht lesen und schreiben können; economically/musically illiterate → völlig unwissend, wenn es um Wirtschaft/Musik geht; many people are computer-illiterate → viele Menschen kennen sich nicht mit Computern aus

n → Analphabet(in) m(f)

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

illiterate

[ɪˈlɪt/ərɪt]

1. adj (person) → analfabeta, illetterato/a; (letter) → sgrammaticato/a

2. n → analfabeta m/f, illetterato/a

illiterate

(iˈlitərət) adjective

1. unable to read and write.

2. having little or no education.

ilˈliteracy noun

illiterate

→ أُمِّيٌّ negramotný analfabetisk ungebildet αγράμματος analfabeto lukutaidoton analphabète nepismen analfabeta 読み書きのできない 문맹의 analfabeet ikke lese- og skrivekyndig niepiśmienny analfabeto неграмотный analfabet ไม่สามารถอ่านและเขียนได้ okuma yazması olmayan mù chữ 不识字的

il·lit·er·ate

a. analfabeto-a.

illiterate

adj analfabeto

References in classic literature ?

Tho' certainly nothing could to any reasonable Being, have appeared more satisfactory, than so gratefull a reply to her invitation, yet I know not how it was, but she was certainly capricious enough to be displeased with our behaviour and in a few weeks after, either to revenge our Conduct, or releive her own solitude, married a young and illiterate Fortune- hunter.

View in context

When the illiterate and perhaps scornful trader has earned by enterprise and industry his coveted leisure and independence, and is admitted to the circles of wealth and fashion, he turns inevitably at last to those still higher but yet inaccessible circles of intellect and genius, and is sensible only of the imperfection of his culture and the vanity and insufficiency of all his riches, and further proves his good sense by the pains which be takes to secure for his children that intellectual culture whose want he so keenly feels; and thus it is that he becomes the founder of a family.

View in context

To fill up a work with these scraps may, indeed, be considered as a downright cheat on the learned world, who are by such means imposed upon to buy a second time, in fragments and by retail, what they have already in gross, if not in their memories, upon their shelves; and it is still more cruel upon the illiterate, who are drawn in to pay for what is of no manner of use to them.

View in context

"Here, I opened your letter too," said Kitty, handing him an illiterate letter.

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Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen.

View in context

Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but littleassisted by education or society; the greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father; and though he belonged to one of the universities, he had merely kept the necessary terms, without forming at it any useful acquaintance.

View in context

So they did now; but, unfortunately, the ministers and wise men were more deluded than the illiterate people.

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There was a regular supply of inexpensive fiction written to order by poor hacks for the consumption of the illiterate. Philip was elated; she had addressed him of her own accord; he saw the time approaching when his turn would come and he would tell her exactly what he thought of her.

View in context

An expedient was therefore offered, "that since words are only names for things, it would be more convenient for all men to carry about them such things as were necessary to express a particular business they are to discourse on." And this invention would certainly have taken place, to the great ease as well as health of the subject, if the women, in conjunction with the vulgar and illiterate, had not threatened to raise a rebellion unless they might be allowed the liberty to speak with their tongues, after the manner of their forefathers; such constant irreconcilable enemies to science are the common people.

View in context

"No, you can't understand what I learned from that illiterate man- that simple fellow."

View in context

It was a hotchpotch of illiterate abuse of Martin, and of assertion that the "so-called Martin Eden" who was selling stories to magazines was no writer at all, and that in reality he was stealing stories from old magazines, typing them, and sending them out as his own.

View in context

To a girl possessing a high opinion of her own importance it was not very agreeable to feel herself excluded, as an illiterate stranger, from the one absorbing interest of her schoolfellows.