illiterate
adjective/ɪˈlɪtərət/
/ɪˈlɪtərət/
- (of a person) not knowing how to read or write
- A large percentage of the rural population was illiterate.
Extra Examples- Being illiterate, my grandfather signed the document with an ‘X’.
- In a mainly illiterate society, traditions were passed down orally.
- Ordinary members of the clergy were largely illiterate.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- completely
- totally
- almost
- …
- (of a document or letter) badly written, as if by somebody without much education
- Many of the application forms we received were virtually illiterate.
- That morning I received a somewhat illiterate letter from my client.
- (usually after a noun or adverb) not knowing very much about a particular subject area
- computer-illiterate
- musically illiterate
- The population was politically illiterate and easily manipulated.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- completely
- totally
- almost
- …
Word Originlate Middle English: from Latin illitteratus, from in- ‘not’ + litteratus, from littera ‘letter of the alphabet’, (plural) ‘epistle, literature, culture’.
Check pronunciation:
illiterate