1
as in ungrammatical
violating approved patterns of speaking and writing
most of the messages left on the Web site's bulletin board are illiterate
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
offered menus with pictures, presumably for the many illiterate people who must eat there
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in ignoramus
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illiterate
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024
People in Europe were almost entirely illiterate, while there was a high degree of literacy and numeracy in the Muslim world.
—David Conrads, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jan. 2025
Would Bashir relinquish the south to let it be governed by a former enemy in a cowboy hat, who presided over a territory with fewer than 100 miles of paved roads and a population that was 80% illiterate?
—Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2024
In centuries past, a town crier would read out the news or announcements to villagers, many of them illiterate.
—Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 26 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Adjective
That’s especially true when an economically illiterate news media stokes consumer fears.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024
People in Europe were almost entirely illiterate, while there was a high degree of literacy and numeracy in the Muslim world.
—David Conrads, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jan. 2025
Would Bashir relinquish the south to let it be governed by a former enemy in a cowboy hat, who presided over a territory with fewer than 100 miles of paved roads and a population that was 80% illiterate?
—Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2024
In centuries past, a town crier would read out the news or announcements to villagers, many of them illiterate.
—Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 26 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illiterate
Adjective
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And in general, the A.I. bots were useful for sharpening prose and cleaning up clunky, ungrammatical sentences.—
Brian X. Chen,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2023
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That could be useful for conversations where telegraphic, ungrammatical messages would come off as impolite.—
Tom Simonite,
Wired,
18 Oct. 2020
Adjective
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Another director might have shied away from such minutiae or worse, be completely ignorant of them.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes,
17 Mar. 2025
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Consider that Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-war protester and recent graduate of Columbia University, was arrested on a Saturday night by ICE agents who appeared ignorant of his status as a legal U.S. resident and his rights thereof.—
Nisha Whitehead,
Orange County Register,
16 Mar. 2025
Noun
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And yet Danielle is currently playing The Traitors so poorly — making big, sloppy, conspicuous moves, alienating potential allies, and fancying herself an Oscar-winning actress while displaying community-center theatrics — that even scene-stealing ignoramus Tom Sandoval has taken notice.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
30 Jan. 2025
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And finally, there is Remy (Guillaume Cyr), a well-meaning security guard at the Quebec Maple Association who is a bit of an ignoramus.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The first half hour is filled with the weirdly neutral techno jargon of soldiers jabbering code words into their headphones to what I (as a know-nothing) am tempted to call Mission Control.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
28 Mar. 2025
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After the know-nothing county board opts to raze the baseball diamond to make way for a school, the teams meet for one final game at their beloved Soldier’s Field, with girlfriends, kids, and local hooligans as intermittent spectators.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
7 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Illiterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illiterate. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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