literate
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L323325 on Wikidata ↗adjective
- able to read, well versed in
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈlɪtəɹət/
adj
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English litterate, borrowed from Latin lītterātus, līterātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix). Doublet of literato and literatus. Displaced native Old English stæfwīs.
- Able to read and write; having literacy.
“Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.”
“Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday (September 8, 2025) declared Himachal as a “fully literate State” on the occasion of International Literary Day. […] Journey from 7% to 99.30%: The Chief Minister said Himachal Pradesh had reached this goal well before the scheduled timeframe, adding that the journey from minimal literacy rate of around 7% to full literacy had been full of challenges, yet the State had consistently moved forward with the aim of providing quality education. […] Mr. Sukhu said the literacy rate in Himachal Pradesh had reached 99.30%, which is higher than the national benchmark of 95% […] Union Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar, in a video message, congratulated Himachal Pradesh on this achievement and emphasised the importance of providing skill-based education to the newly literate.”
- Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.
“The reason literature plays a unique role in any literate culture is its longevity.”
- Which is used in writing (of a language or dialect).
“The Mongol emperor Kublai Khan even commissioned an alphabetic script for his empire, to be used officially for all its literate languages, Mongolian, Chinese, Turkic and Persian.”
- Able to understand and evaluate something.
“I don’t have a college degree. I was never a standout student. And yet, I became financially literate—not just in my personal life, but in running a small company.”
noun
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English litterate, borrowed from Latin lītterātus, līterātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix). Doublet of literato and literatus. Displaced native Old English stæfwīs.
- A person who is able to read and write.
- A person who was educated but had not taken a university degree; especially a candidate to take holy orders.