Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not adept at reading and writing; deficient in the knowledge that can be acquired from books.
- adjective Illiterate.
- adjective Having no lettering.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Unlearned; untaught; ignorant; illiterate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective not instructed in letters; not well educated; unable to read
- adjective not expressed in or marked with letters
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
- adjective having little acquaintance with writing
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He said that nobody with Trace's education would EVER used an "unlettered" dialect.
back in the swing Holly 2006
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He said that nobody with Trace's education would EVER used an "unlettered" dialect.
Archive 2006-01-01 Holly 2006
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Leonardo described himself as "unlettered" because he was unable to read Latin, the language used by other Renaissance intellectuals.
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This post with its piece of bark was neither more nor less than a letter, such as unlettered men in all ages have used for holding intercourse with absent friends.
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The how and wherefore it is unnecessary to explain, but some of the cleverest and best-bred people of this well-bred and clever capital took us by the hand, all "unlettered" as we were, and from that moment, taking into consideration our tastes and my health, the question has been, not how to get into, but how to keep out of, the great world.
Recollections of Europe James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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"unlettered;" that they often conduce to the "tyranny of the unwise majority"; that they undermine parliaments, ties the hands of cabinets, and generally lead to weakened or ungovernable states.
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CNN, PLEASE, PLEASE stop featuring this unlettered and uneducated woman.
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Sarah Palin is an unlettered, ignorant woman and ought to be ignored.
Palin calls for Obama to boycott climate change conference 2009
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For the immense crowd of the unlettered, the multitude which had neither psalter nor missal and whose only book was the church, it was necessary to give concrete form to abstract thought.
The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral - part 2 2009
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Do these same people bother to go read to unlettered children, build for the disadvantaged, feed the hungry, hold a small child at an orphanage or clean the animal cages at a shelter?.
martagreen commented on the word unlettered
(adj): Illiterate.
March 7, 2009