See Also: Illiterate(money)
illiterate(dictionary)
ILLITERATE(law)
illiterate 1, adjective(dictionary)
illiterate 2, noun(dictionary)

illiterate (iou)



illiterate adjective & noun. LME.
[Latin illitteratus, formed as IL-2 + LITERATE adjective.]
A. adjective.
1. Of a person: uneducated, esp. unable to read and write; (of a thing) characterized by or showing ignorance of reading or writing; uneducated, unlearned, unpolished. LME.
Conan Doyle Certain letters...were in an illiterate handwriting. R. Gittings He married an illiterate girlshe could not write her own name. A. Burgess My grandmother was illiterate and had to have the evening newspaper read out to her.
b. gen. Characterized by ignorance or lack of education or subtlety (in any activity etc.). M20.
A. J. P. Taylor I am musically illiterate. I cannot follow sonata form, let alone a fugue.
2. Unwritten; inarticulate. rare. M17.
B. noun. An illiterate person; esp. a person unable to read and write. E17.
A. Tate Impressionistic education..is..making us a nation of illiterates: a nation of people without letters. G. Bordman Berlin, a musical illiterate, undoubtedly understood that composing an opera..required more.
illiterately adverb L17.
illiterateness noun M17.
illiterati illiterate, unlearned, or uneducated people L18.
illiterature noun [after LITERATURE] (a) illiteracy, lack of education; (b) literature of poor quality: L16.