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illiterate

[ih-lit-er-it] / ɪˈlɪt ər ɪt /


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.

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He has commonly been described as illiterate, but O'Keeffe uncovered a draft of the memoir among Napier's papers that was written in Byfield's own hand.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026

That guidance suggests that teenage girls in particular are illiterate about their own bodies, and as a result make poor health decisions.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

Raised by a single mother in Korogocho, one of Nairobi's poorest informal settlements, Marius describes himself as "something like illiterate", and sees few options in a country where 40 percent live below the poverty line.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

In this adaptation, Anna Bowden had been Cady’s defense attorney, and he’s no longer an illiterate rube but a successful restaurateur who was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

It’s down-to-earth, it’s simple, it’s untrue, and it’s familiar enough and trivial enough to be understood and loved by our greedy, nervous, illiterate sponsors.’”

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

Carlson at one point complained about “the illiterates posing as political analysts on your TV,” presumably on rival networks.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2020

The unintended consequences of do-goodism by cultural illiterates.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

But these illiberal cultural illiterates instead wanted curtains for the offending Elizabethan play.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 19, 2017

Thus, contract laborers were excluded in 1885, immoral persons and anarchists in 1903, and illiterates in 1917.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2016

Is it likely that in one quarter of Donegal—that is, in one-fourth part of one county—there should be more illiterates than in the whole of Scotland?

From Ireland as It Is And as It Would be Under Home Rule by Robert John Buckley


Vocabulary lists containing illiterate

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