illiterate
Rates of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment remain high.
She talked about her crusade to combat illiteracy in the United States.
This is an experiment attacking historical illiteracy.
It is economic illiteracy to pretend that demand can be stemmed by curbing supply.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Inability and awkwardness
accident-prone
adorkable
all thumbsidiom
amateurish
amateurishly
fumbling
fumblingly
functional illiteracy
gauche
gauchely
inexpertly
jack-of-all-trades
jack-of-all-trades, master of noneidiom
klutzy
like a bull in a china shopidiom
uncoordinated
uneducable
unenterprising
unequal
ungainly

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Unaware

illiteracy | Business English

illiteracy
noun[ U ]
uk /ɪˈlɪtərəsi/us
the fact of being unable to read and write:
adult illiteracy
The government is trying to combat high rates of illiteracy.
a situation in which someone knows little or nothing about a particular subject:
computer illiteracy
economic/financial illiteracy

Examples of illiteracy

illiteracy
Meaningful analysis of female occupation and illiteracy is thus non-viable because of the scarcity of data.
First, the information costs of contesting elections increased, as illiteracy rates declined and media coverage (including radio) expanded.
In this respect a particular story illustrates how illiteracy impacts on electoral participation.
Overcrowding, together with poor sanitation, illiteracy and a complete lack of veterinary attention places this community at a high risk of acquiring zoonotic infections.
Four levels of education are considered: illiteracy, primary school, middle school, and high school or higher.
While the new constitution enshrines a bill of rights, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy remain essential obstacles to the enjoyment of any rights.
Sharecropping was positively related to illiteracy, although not to race.
There is high level of illiteracy, massive dropout rate at middle and high school levels and limited access to higher education.
Given this procedure, there are several reasons why the census probably underestimated illiteracy.
It would induce boredom, reduce creativity and result in even more illiteracy.
There is a long list of what he calls "illiteracies" (p.266) (sparing, with elaborate condescension, the term "vulgarisms" for the moment).
Among other causes, the so-called 'language decline' is attributed to thoughtlessness and illiteracy.
The widespread rumors of his illiteracy seem to be at least partially true.
By 1820 illiteracy had again increased, and there was little evidence of a decline until 1850.
To be sure, the authors do not advocate illiteracy as a means of keeping languages alive in illiterate communities.
See all examples of illiteracy
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.