illiterate
/ɪˈlɪtəɹət/ · il·lit·er·ate
noun
- A person who cannot read or write. Many children in the remote village remain illiterate due to lack of schools.
- A person who lacks knowledge or competence in a particular subject. The committee was full of financial illiterates who could not grasp the budget.
adjective
- Unable to read and write. She was illiterate until she learned to read at night school.
- Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language, literature, or formal education. His illiterate remarks about classic novels revealed his limited literary background.
- Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing. The report was dismissed as illiterate because of its numerous grammatical errors.
Did you know? The word 'illiterate' was famously used by Thomas Jefferson in an 1800 letter to criticize the lack of basic reading skills among some of his contemporaries.