Synonyms of unread

unread

adjective

ˌən-ˈred 

as in ignorant

lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books

an officer who seemed to be completely unread in military theory

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignorant
• dark
• unlearned
• unlettered
• uneducated
• uninstructed
• benighted
• illiterate
• untaught
• inexperienced
• unschooled
• untutored
• nonliterate
• simple
• rude
• innocent
• naive
• foolish
• functionally illiterate
• uncultivated
• analphabetic
• green
• callow
• stupid
• innumerate
• dumb
• semiliterate
• uncultured
• artless
• unknowledgeable
• unskilled
• idiotic
• imbecile
• lowbrow
• unsophisticated
• untrained
• moronic
• brainless
• philistine
• witless
• silly
• raw
• senseless

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• literate
• lettered
• intelligent
• educated
• brilliant
• knowledgeable
• smart
• scholarly
• well-read
• expert
• experienced
• intellectual
• erudite
• trained
• well-informed
• learned
• schooled
• aware
• cultured
• familiar
• cultivated
• sophisticated
• highbrow
• acquainted
• polymath
• polyhistoric

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of unread

Thou mayest skim unread messages if the number of notifications is greater than 20. — Sam Reed, Glamour, 18 May 2026

And somewhere on a beach in Indonesia, a book stayed unread a little longer than usual. — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 14 May 2026

Others can emerge during the long recovery afterward, when missed physical therapy appointments and unread discharge instructions slow healing. — Nandan Lad, Time, 27 Apr. 2026

Yet during some of those years—okay, many of them—the weekly issues have piled up in my home and gone mostly unread between biannual days of bingeing and purging. — John Williams, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2026