English

Noun

Illiterati pl ‎(plural only)

1. Those who cannot read and write Latin.
   • 2005, Jonathan Christian Petty, Wagner's Lexical Tonality, page 329:

     Also known as illiterati (people ignorant of Latin letters), the common run of people were defined intellectually by the limits of their idiom and by the type and "quality" of reading materials available to them.

   • 2006, John N. King, Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs' and Early Modern Print Culture, ISBN 1139460692, page 244:

     Offering this address largely in the first person plural, Foxe identifies himself not with the illiterati, who were incapable of reading it, but with Latin-literate Protestants whose numbers must have included many who shared the compiler's ministerial vocation.

   • 2007, Christopher Langdon Freeman, The Figure of a Hero, ISBN 0549367411, page 216:

     Moreover, the fact that such listeners existed at all is a powerful testament to the cultural importance that Latin history enjoyed at the beginning of the twelfth century, and Rober's broad includsion of literati and illiterati alike even expands Baudri's decidedly inclusive sense of audience for Latin histories.

2. People who are not well-educated or who are ignorant about a particular subject.
   • 1995, Michael York, The Emerging Network, ISBN 0847680010, page 133:

     Aiming to dissipate the "Establishment view" that "Occultism consists of immature psychopathic illiterati with criminal and anti-social tendencies who emanate largely from lower socio-economic stratas of our society," ...

   • 2003, Eric M. Blalock, A Beginner’s Guide to Microarrays, ISBN 1402074727, page 187:

     However, this has lead some researchers to conclude that replication is itself wasteful, that statistical methods are largely superfluous for molecular research, and that granting institutions and journals requesting such statistical control are composed of molecular illiterati putting red tape in the way of scientific progress.

   • 2009, Ian Conrich, Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema, ISBN 0857713345, page 103:

     Thus, in the spirit of Lester Bangs, the editors of Zontar, a Boston-based fanzine devoted primarily to the promotion of 'badfilm', not that their publication "is not for the delicate tastebuds of the pseudo-genteel cultural illiterati who enjoy mind-rotting, soul-endangering pabulum like Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth and the other white-boy 'new-age' puke-**** served up from the bowels of PBS during pledge-week”.

   Illiterati by design

English

Noun

illiterati pl ‎(plural only)

1. Those who are illiterate or unlearned.
   • 2007, Chantal J. Zabus, The African Palimpsest (page 86)

     As a symbol of the “hybrid margin,” pidgin is the subversive lect of the illiterati.

See also

• ignorati