illiterate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Because many colonists were illiterate, the Declaration was commonly declaimed by local officials in town squares and preachers in pulpits.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
They want illiterate, groveling serfs, who live in fear and don’t stick around too long.
From Salon • Nov. 23, 2025
A high number of pupils at the secondary school are "functionally illiterate", meaning they have a reading age well below average when they start Year 7.
From BBC • May 21, 2025
As Irish journalist and author Fintan O’Toole notes, by the mid-20th century, “the self-mocking joke was that most Irish people were illiterate in two languages.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2025
Yet in a few years an illiterate runaway named Harriet Tubman would make nineteen trips into this country and lead three hundred fugitives to freedom.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
Vocabulary lists containing illiterate
I Am Malala
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Freak the Mighty
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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