Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Able to read but not interested in reading. See Usage Note at literate.
Wiktionary
- adj. Disinclined to read though not illiterate, able to read but reluctant or unlikely to read.
- n. Someone who is able to read but disinclined to do so.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who can read but is disinclined to derive information from literary sources
Examples
“I would say there are many in my generation that are as "aliterate" as the younger generation mentioned in the LA Times - though I don't know what the percentage comparison would be.”
“And if that doesn't work, the aliterate malcontents resort to book burning demonstrations.”
“I, too, thanks to the wonder of the Internet can be a slush reader... publishers give me that factor that the work had to meet the requirements of the publisher to get distributed, thereby eliminating forests full of manuscripts regarded as commercially unviable, most of which I expect I would regard and aliterate and vile.”
“Of course, in fiction the brother would have made something up that implied he had read Cormier's books, and the author would have invited him out to lunch to hear what young people are up to these days, and the brother would have phoned Peter for tips on what to say, and Peter would have insisted on coming along in the role of his own aliterate brother, and ... laffs galore, people!”
“I could never get that idea, the notion that society in general is becoming aliterate, out of my head," he says.”
Wired: Novelist Neal Stephenson Once Again Proves He's the King of the Worlds
“Unfortunately, the "intelligence" of the video is in the subtext, something that aliterate people would not be able to pick up on if they don't, indeed, "read a book.”
“For high schoolers who are strongly aliterate as opposed to illiterate I have sucessfully gotten them off Spark Notes and Cliff Notes by encouraging them to download the classics from their reading lists.”
“As Baron points out, "Many of this generation are aliterate — they know how to read but don't choose to.”
“I'm always running into regular dudes--construction workers, auto mechanics, taxi drivers, galoots in general--who were largely aliterate until something made it necessary for them to become readers and start actually thinking about things.”
“Stephenson has also mentioned in an interview that the mathic / extramuros dichotomy was a means for examining the differences between the literate and the aliterate, which he defines as those who can read but choose not to.”
Lists
‘aliterate’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
reesetee Love it. Nov 6, 2007
john Wordsmith word of the day, November 6, 2007:
"The avowed aliterate has relinquished an activity that is uniquely human. (Apes can watch TV)."
- Linton Weeks, The Washington Post, Jul 14, 1996.
The worst kind of person. At least when you're illiterate, you have an excuse. Nov 6, 2007