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.
“Without laborers,” she writes, “who were often illiterate and almost never speak for themselves in historical texts—there would have been no Mughal Empire.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025
Barrett, a former law professor, did not seem persuaded that this notoriously sloppy and economically illiterate document was a substitute for reality-based reasoning.
From Slate • Nov. 5, 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
In the novel, Franklin D. Roosevelt loses the Democratic presidential nomination to Buzz Windrip, who is described as “vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily discredited,” but wins the election in a landslide.
From Salon • May 17, 2025
Young and old, poor and rich, scholarly gentlemen and illiterate servant girls—only to Father did it seem that they were all alike.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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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