uneducated

adjective

un·​ed·​u·​cat·​ed ˌən-ˈe-jə-ˌkā-təd 

: having or showing little or no formal schooling : not educated

Owing to my father being left an orphan at the age of six years, in poverty, and in a new country, he became a wholly uneducated man.

—Abraham Lincoln

an uneducated attitude

Synonyms

• analphabetic
• benighted
• dark
• ignorant
• illiterate
• nonliterate
• rude
• simple
• uninstructed
• unlearned
• unlettered
• unread
• unschooled
• untaught
• untutored

Examples of uneducated in a Sentence

a literary reference that could not be grasped by an uneducated person

Recent Examples on the Web

The resulting trial was made famous almost immediately as a contest between—take your pick—Darwin and the Bible; science and religion; modernism and traditionalism; the educated and the uneducated; the godless and the faithful. —Lisa Grunwald, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024

Even the most astronomically uneducated look up into the night sky and realize there’s something beyond themselves and this Earth. —Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

uneducated

adjective

un·​ed·​u·​cat·​ed

ˌən-ˈej-ə-ˌkāt-əd

: seriously lacking in education and especially in formal schooling