functional illiteracy

noun

as in illiteracy

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for functional illiteracy
  1. illiteracy
  2. ignorance
  3. dumbness
  4. idiocy
Noun
  • At a time when public debt as a share of GDP has risen to its highest level since the pandemic, Lula cited his achievements in lowering poverty rates, as well as reducing unemployment, illiteracy, and deforestation to record lows.
    — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 26 Oct. 2026
  • There’s a dumb ending, involving the Bewitched theme and Dennis Rodman discussing the perils of adult illiteracy (sure), but everything before that is pretty fun, including the Bumblebee Man turning into a bumblebee and Lisa into Albert Einstein.
    — Joshua Kurp, Vulture, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of illiteracy
Noun
  • Macca shot back as Poehler feigned ignorance and let out a laugh.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2026
  • But disagreement does not necessarily mean that one side possesses wisdom while the other possesses ignorance or evil.
    — Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of ignorance
Noun
  • The first 10 minutes are an incredible swirl of paranoia, alcoholism, and sluggish dumbness when Gould just needs to feed his cat.
    — Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026
  • Unlike its sibling concepts of dumbness and idiocy, stupidity isn’t really a personality trait.
    — Jonny Thomson, Big Think, 11 Feb. 2026
Definition of dumbness
Noun
  • There's always been an element of complete idiocy in the culture.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Forty years on, Spy magazine is best remembered, not unjustly, as the first entity to call out Trump for his tackiness, villainy, and arrant idiocy.
    — David Kamp, Air Mail, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of idiocy
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.

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functional
functional illiteracy
functionally illiterate
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Cite this Entry

“Functional illiteracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/functional%20illiteracy. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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