illiterati

[ ih-lit-uh-rah-tee, -rey-tahy ]

plural noun

, Informal.

1. illiterate or ignorant people.

Word History and Origins

Origin of illiterati¹

1780–90; blend of illiterate and literati

Example Sentences

Kathy Lette warned: "Closing our libraries will make us a nation of numbskulls – the Illiterati."

From The Guardian

We're good sports; we don't want to spoil The Perfect Storm for the illiterati.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now, as the domain of computer buyers expands, the bestsellers tend to be either step-by-step guides for new users, usually geared to specific machines, or introductory texts like McWilliams', which are intended for the computer illiterati who have not yet bought a machine.

From Time Magazine Archive

Moreover, kids are not quite the new illiterati that is widely supposed.

From Time Magazine Archive

A lower species, indeed, is that of the scribes you mention, who every night compose a journal for the satisfaction of such illiterati, and feed them with all the vices and misfortunes of every private family; nay, they now call it a duty to publish all those calamities which decency to wretched relations used in compassion to suppress, I mean self-murder in particular.

From Project Gutenberg