preliterate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This is not to say that there isn’t anything valuable to be found in the oral histories of preliterate societies, or in prehistoric cave paintings and archaeological artifacts.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Myths themselves commonly embody the religious beliefs of ancient or preliterate peoples, but Philip Ball suggests that we are still generating them.

From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2021

But it seems similarly poised to tear through the preliterate set like a baby sharknado.

From Slate • Nov. 5, 2019

The most puzzling part of the whole civilisation-to-the-rescue proposal is that whenever modern-day explorers have encountered preliterate people, the violent ones have invariably been the explorers.

From The Guardian • Mar. 12, 2019

Toothless old people, the repositories of information in a preliterate society, could now be fed and live longer.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond