as in illiteracy
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for functional illiteracy
Noun
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The pattern is so consistent across the centuries that ignoring this requires a willful act of historical illiteracy.—
Anthony Scaramucci,
Fortune,
19 Mar. 2026 -
Their parents sign their names with trembling hands that carry the invisible weight of illiteracy.—
Joyeeta Banerjee,
NPR,
1 Mar. 2026
Noun
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For most of its history and prehistory, the human race has lived in various states of ignorance and wonder.—
Robert Pogue Harrison,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
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Keenan had spent time in the Peace Corps and had drifted around the world afterward, coming away with the conception that Americans’ ignorance of other cultures had led the country directly into the wood chipper of Vietnam.—
Jack Crosbie,
Rolling Stone,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Unlike its sibling concepts of dumbness and idiocy, stupidity isn’t really a personality trait.—
Jonny Thomson,
Big Think,
11 Feb. 2026
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Compare that to punk rock, which used dumbness as a tactic.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
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There’s a heartwarming idiocy to their pursuit, yet what festers underneath is their inability to process grief consciously and the fear that those who deem their existence meaningless might be right.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
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Gunther and Tig are two billionaire failsons who have wasted countless opportunities and cash chasing the stupidest ideas and who get rewarded over and over again for their idiocy.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Functional illiteracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/functional%20illiteracy. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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