Illiteracy

//ɪˈlɪtəɹəsi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The inability to read and write. uncountable

    "Illiteracy is widespread in certain areas of the country."

  2. 2
    an inability to read wordnet
  3. 3
    The portion of a population unable to read and write, generally given as a percentage. uncountable
  4. 4
    ignorance resulting from not reading wordnet
  5. 5
    A word, phrase, or grammatical turn thought to be characteristic of an illiterate person. countable
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  1. 6
    Unlearnedness; the state of being ignorant or unlettered. broadly, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
analphabetismanalphabetismignorancequasiliteracysemiliteracy

Example

More examples

"The percentage of illiteracy in that country is 36%."

Etymology

From il- + literacy.

Related phrases

computer illiteracye-illiteracycan notcannot readcant readreading inability

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.