semiliterate

adjective

Definition of semiliteratenext
as in illiterate

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for semiliterate
  1. illiterate
  2. uneducated
  3. ignorant
  4. unschooled
  5. untutored
  6. nonliterate
  7. benighted
  8. unlettered
Adjective
  • Those who are illiterate, above the age of 70, and between 16 and 18 years of age may choose whether to exercise their right.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 Oct. 2026
  • As a peripheral community grows around them, this lawless terrain is suddenly subject to boundaries and contracts and taxes; both uneducated and illiterate, Isak and Inger are ill prepared for such societal evolution.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of illiterate
Adjective
  • Ira, in my very uneducated opinion, there are eight teams in the East that could finish first, and any of those eight could be eighth.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 24 Sep. 2026
  • As a peripheral community grows around them, this lawless terrain is suddenly subject to boundaries and contracts and taxes; both uneducated and illiterate, Isak and Inger are ill prepared for such societal evolution.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of uneducated
Adjective
  • Also, the incorrect assumption among those who either are ignorant of the real economic realities or just don’t care and just want to pander to their own districts.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The old worst dressed lists could be cruel, sexist, culturally ignorant, and spectacularly misguided.
    — Derek C. Blasberg, Vanity Fair, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of ignorant
Adjective
  • Scholars hazarded theories as to how an unschooled middle-aged Black woman from the South could brush with genius.
    — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Mata was also concerned about how the data failed to display how INA staff works with the lowest English proficiency students in the district — specifically those who are unschooled, and oftentimes refugees who have just entered the country.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Apr. 2026
Definition of unschooled
Adjective
  • No untutored voice, nor even sound of rushing car disturbed the seemingly sacred stillness of the hour.
    — Erin Alberty, Axios, 14 Apr. 2025
  • His savage, untutored mind suggested no better way than that of wreaking vengeance upon those who had wronged him.
    — Liz Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 21 Feb. 2025
Definition of untutored
Adjective
  • Such a practice would have been especially useful in nonliterate societies where knowledge was transmitted orally.
    — Amanda Fortini, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2020
Definition of nonliterate
Adjective
  • Despite the claims of any number of charlatans who prey on the American brand of cuddly benighted ignorance, the universe will not manifest an alternate reality for anyone who simply wishes for it with sufficient longing.
    — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Could Kleist’s conjecture provide a key to their seeming vacancy, their resignation, their helplessness, suggesting that in their benighted condition lies spiritual perfection?
    — Matthew McLean, Artforum, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of benighted
Adjective
  • Busby Berkeley Wrongly taken as a mere ornamentalist—even worse, sometimes mistaken for a fascist—Busby Berkeley was an erotic sociobiologist, an unlettered philosopher in visual music.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 July 2022
  • The characters include a temperamental goat, a sweet-natured monk, an unlettered orphan boy and an intelligent young girl whose destiny is to dethrone a king.
    — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 10 Dec. 2021
Definition of unlettered
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

semiliquid
semiliterate
semilustrous
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Cite this Entry

“Semiliterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/semiliterate. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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