preliterate

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.

In between were larger groups of seminomadic tribes that were mostly preliterate, with more loosely fixed memberships and territorial ranges than the settled societies.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Myths themselves commonly embody the religious beliefs of ancient or preliterate peoples, but Philip Ball suggests that we are still generating them.

From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2021

The most puzzling part of the whole civilisation-to-the-rescue proposal is that whenever modern-day explorers have encountered preliterate people, the violent ones have invariably been the explorers.

From The Guardian • Mar. 12, 2019

They studied the Fore, an isolated, preliterate culture from the highlands of New Guinea.

From Slate • Jul. 26, 2012

How can we ever hope to wrest the answers to those questions from Africa’s preliterate past, lacking the written evidence that teaches us about the spread of the Roman Empire?

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond