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
  • While about 90% of the Black population in Southern states were illiterate in 1865, this percentage dropped to 70% by 1880.
    — Rodney Coates, The Conversation, 16 June 2026
  • Eventually, a Pakistani Christian group working with families was able to find housing and jobs for parents, and located a teacher for the children who were largely illiterate.
    — Beth Bailey, FOXNews.com, 7 June 2026
Definition of illiterate
Adjective
  • The report says there's been progress, but minorities, along with people who are poor and uneducated, still face higher death rates.
    — Stephanie Stahl, CBS News, 24 June 2026
  • The hillbilly is portrayed as ignorant, uneducated, and unsophisticated; they are often depicted as being unkempt in appearance, perhaps noticeably dirty or walking around barefoot.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 June 2026
Definition of uneducated
Adjective
  • Let’s hope that George Santayana’s warning to those ignorant of history about the past repeating itself makes an exception for our present Defense Department.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 28 June 2026
  • And then there are amateur collectors like me, who might not know ironstone from porcelain, but whose last day on earth could be spent touching old objects in ignorant bliss.
    — Jessica Sulima, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2026
Definition of ignorant
Adjective
  • When Obama met Trump for a ritual pre-Inauguration visit to the Oval Office, he was struck by how unschooled and incurious the President-elect was.
    — Peter Slevin, New Yorker, 4 May 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
  • But this time there would be no panel from the National Endowment of the Arts sifting through the applications, no oversight from cultural officials and benighted curators—the usual process.
    — Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 8 May 2026
  • Repeal the benighted Jones Act, which raises energy and shipping costs.
    — Editorial, Boston Herald, 30 Mar. 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 8 Jul. 2026.

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