SEMILITERATE Synonyms: 73 Similar and Opposite Words

semiliterate

adjective

Definition of semiliterate

as in illiterate

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for semiliterate

Adjective

Coming from a village in a southern province, illiterate, and speaking only local dialect, women like her come to Beijing to live with their sons and daughters.

— Jonathan Flint, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026
In the Pale of Settlement, it was often looked down on as a language of women, children and the illiterate.

— Ilan Stavans, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of illiterate

Adjective

But Jewish religious nationalists, particularly uneducated young men, remain a threat, said John Munayer of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an interreligious organization in Jerusalem.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of uneducated

Adjective

Mamdani’s ignorant opinion illustrates Kissinger’s concern, relying on emotional display rather than the facts.

— Daniel Kolkey, Oc Register, 16 Aug. 2026
Howard Bryant's comparison this week between Cunningham's comments and Colin Kaepernick's protests was both ignorant and desperate.

— Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 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

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

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semiliquid

semiliterate

semilustrous

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“Semiliterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/semiliterate. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of semiliterate

adjective

Example Sentences

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