illiteracy Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun ignorance resulting from not reading
  2. noun an inability to read
    analphabetism.

WordNet

Il*lit"er*a*cy noun
Etymology
From Illiterate.
Wordforms
plural Illiteracies
Definitions
  1. The state of being illiterate, or uneducated; want of learning, or knowledge; ignorance; specifically, inability to read and write; as, the illiteracy shown by the last census.
  2. An instance of ignorance; a literary blunder.
    The many blunders and illiteracies of the first publishers of his [Shakespeare's] works. Pope.

Webster 1913