illiterate

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: il=lit=er=ate

CIDE DICTIONARY

illiterate, a. [L. illiteratus: pref. il- not + literatus learned. See In- not, and Literal.].

 Unable to read or write; ignorant of letters or books; unlettered; uninstructed; uneducated; as, an illiterate man, or people.

Syn. -- Ignorant; untaught; unlearned; unlettered; unscholary. See Ignorant.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

illiterate, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 unable to read.
2 uneducated.
--n. an illiterate person.

Derivative

illiteracy n. illiterately adv. illiterateness n.

Etymology

L illitteratus (as IN-(1), litteratus LITERATE)

THESAURUS

illiterate

Gothic, Philistine, barbarous, benighted, bookless, dabbler, deceived, dilettante, dunce, empty-headed, fool, functionally illiterate, grammarless, greenhorn, greeny, heathen, hoodwinked, ignoramus, ignorant, ill-educated, illiterati, know-nothing, led astray, lowbrow, middlebrow, misinformed, misinstructed, mistaught, no scholar, nonintellectual, pagan, puddinghead, rude, tenderfoot, unbooked, unbookish, unbooklearned, unbriefed, uncultivated, uncultured, unedified, uneducated, unenlightened, unerudite, unguided, uninstructed, unintellectual, unintelligentsia, unlearned, unlettered, unliterary, unread, unrefined, unscholarly, unschooled, unstudious, untaught, untutored

ROGET THESAURUS

illiterate

Ignorance

N ignorance, nescience, tabula rasa, crass ignorance, ignorance crasse, unfamiliarity, unacquaintance, unconsciousness, darkness, blindness, incomprehension, inexperience, simplicity, unknown quantities, x, y, z, sealed book, terra incognita, virgin soil, unexplored ground, dark ages, smattering, sciolism, glimmering, dilettantism, bewilderment, incapacity, pedantry, charlatanry, charlatism, Philister, Philistine, ignorant, nescient, unknowing, unaware, unacquainted, unapprised, unapprized, unwitting, unweeting, unconscious, witless, weetless, a stranger to, unconversant, uninformed, uncultivated, unversed, uninstructed, untaught, uninitiated, untutored, unschooled, misguided, unenlightened, Philistine, behind the age, shallow, superficial, green, rude, empty, half-learned, illiterate, unread, uninformed, uneducated, unlearned, unlettered, unbookish, empty-headed, dizzy, wooly-headed, pedantic, in the dark, benighted, belated, blinded, blindfolded, hoodwinked, misinformed, au bout de son latin, at the end of his tether, at fault, at sea, caught tripping, unknown, unapprehended, unexplained, unascertained, uninvestigated, unexplored, unheard of, not perceived, concealed, novel, ignorantly, unawares, for anything, for aught one knows, not that one knows, Int, God knows, Heaven knows, the Lord knows, who knows, nobody knows, ignorance never settles a question, quantum animis erroris inest!, small Latin and less Greek, that unlettered small-knowing soul, there is no darkness but ignorance.