1
as in ungrammatical
violating approved patterns of speaking and writing
most of the messages left on the Web site's bulletin board are illiterate
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
offered menus with pictures, presumably for the many illiterate people who must eat there
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in ignoramus
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illiterate
Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 May 2025
Vuong has told a strikingly similar anecdote about his late mother, like Rose an illiterate mixed-race Vietnamese immigrant who worked in a nail salon.
—Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 6 May 2025
An illiterate student just graduated from Hartford High.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 24 Mar. 2025
That was from a legal loophole with literacy and grandfather clauses involving illiterate white men.
—Chase Jordan, Charlotte Observer, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Noun
As of 2024, 21 percent of adults in the U.S. were found to be illiterate, with 54 percent of adults having a literacy rate below a sixth-grade level, according to the National Literacy Institute (NLI).
—Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 May 2025
Vuong has told a strikingly similar anecdote about his late mother, like Rose an illiterate mixed-race Vietnamese immigrant who worked in a nail salon.
—Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 6 May 2025
An illiterate student just graduated from Hartford High.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 24 Mar. 2025
That was from a legal loophole with literacy and grandfather clauses involving illiterate white men.
—Chase Jordan, Charlotte Observer, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illiterate
Adjective
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And in general, the A.I. bots were useful for sharpening prose and cleaning up clunky, ungrammatical sentences.—
Brian X. Chen,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2023
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That could be useful for conversations where telegraphic, ungrammatical messages would come off as impolite.—
Tom Simonite,
Wired,
18 Oct. 2020
Adjective
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Consequently, many of those enslaved in Texas remained ignorant of the proclamation’s potential impact on their lives, or of the fact the Civil War had functionally ended two months earlier.—
Timothy Welbeck,
The Conversation,
16 June 2025
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Careless or ignorant reporting has obscured objective reality.—
Nicholas DiMarzio,
New York Daily News,
13 June 2025
Noun
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The president himself is a compulsive liar and foreign policy ignoramus.—
Zack Beauchamp,
Vox,
7 Dec. 2018
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And finally, there is Remy (Guillaume Cyr), a well-meaning security guard at the Quebec Maple Association who is a bit of an ignoramus.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The secret is that Spike’s know-nothing naivete encourages us to see the world through the eyes of someone who’s new to every part of it.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
18 June 2025
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After the know-nothing county board opts to raze the baseball diamond to make way for a school, the teams meet for one final game at their beloved Soldier’s Field, with girlfriends, kids, and local hooligans as intermittent spectators.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
7 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Illiterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illiterate. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.
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