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adj. 1. a. Unable to read and write. b. Having little or no formal education. 2. a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature: an illiterate magazine. b. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing: a paragraph with several illiterate expressions. 3. Ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge: musically illiterate. See Usage Note at literate. n. 1. A person who is illiterate. 2. (used with a pl. verb) People who are illiterate, considered as a group. il·liter·ate·ly adv. il·liter·ate·ness n. |
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