illiterate

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.

Because many colonists were illiterate, the Declaration was commonly declaimed by local officials in town squares and preachers in pulpits.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

In her second term, she introduced a constitutional amendment to reserve 45 seats in the legislature for female MPs, and worked to educate young women - in a country where 70% of them were illiterate.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2025

"Digital technology is an opportunity we cannot miss," she said, warning that "those who do not adapt risk becoming the illiterate of the 21st century".

From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025

In the novel, Franklin D. Roosevelt loses the Democratic presidential nomination to Buzz Windrip, who is described as “vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily discredited,” but wins the election in a landslide.

From Salon • May 17, 2025

Their leader was a mysterious, illiterate, one-eyed recluse named Mullah Omar, who, Rasheed said with some amusement, called himself Ameer-ul-Mumineen, Leader of the Faithful.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini