unlettered

[ uhn-let-erd ]

adjective

1. not educated; uneducated; untutored; ignorant.
2. not literate; illiterate.
3. not marked with letters, as a tombstone.

unlettered

/ ʌnˈlɛtəd /

adjective

1. uneducated; illiterate
2. not marked with letters

   an unlettered tombstone

Word History and Origins

Origin of unlettered¹

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; un- ¹, lettered

Synonym Study

See ignorant.

Example Sentences

Rendered on the page in glyph-laden phonetic spellings that are apt to confound the unlettered, these words take wing when released into sound.

From Seattle Times

In this tribal village, most parents are unlettered and unable to help their young children study at home.

From BBC

Federal Judge Elmer Dundy ruled that “the Indian is a ‘person’ ” under the Constitution — but not without also referring to Native Americans as a “weak, insignificant, unlettered, and generally despised race.”

From Washington Post

He was not an unlettered man: In his years at school, Calhoun had written a master’s thesis on the historiography of Napoleon’s peninsular war and had attended a law seminar in Belgium.

From Seattle Times

“He suffers the pangs of poverty of intellect. His perception is clouded. . . . He’s an empty-headed, long-eared, bleary-eyed, awkward, untutored, unlettered, hopeless misprint.”

From Washington Post

Related Words

• illiterate
• innocent
• naive
• oblivious
• obtuse
• uneducated
• uninformed