different between clownish vs illiterate

English

Etymology

From clown +? -ish.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kla?n??/

Adjective

clownish (comparative more clownish, superlative most clownish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of a circus clown; comical, ridiculous.
   • 1998, Bryan Senn, Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema

     Even worse, the zombies' clownish makeup, with a stark white base and black shoe polish around the eyes, looks amateurish.

   • 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:

     Once again, City's defending was clownish. James McArthur drove into the area on the left and pulled a low cross towards the far post, where the horribly timid Gaël Clichy allowed Perch to bundle the ball past Costel Pantilimon.

   • 2005, Laura Barton, The Guardian, 14 May 2005:

     Indeed, when in close quarters to Rooney, it must prove almost irresistible to stick a plastic moustache and silly clownish shoes on the potato-headed fool.

2. (now rare) Pertaining to peasants; rustic.
3. (now rare) Uncultured, boorish; rough, coarse.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

     Large were his limbes, and terrible his looke, / And in his clownish hand a sharp bore speare he shooke.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 4:

     "He is very plain, undoubtedly—remarkably plain:—but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air. I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."

Derived terms

• clownishness

Translations

English

Etymology

Recorded in English since 1556, from Latin illitteratus (“unlearned, ignorant”), itself from in- (“un-”) + litteratus (“furnished with letters”) (from littera (“letter, character”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l?t???t/, /??l?t??t/

Adjective

illiterate (comparative more illiterate, superlative most illiterate)

1. Unable to read and write.
2. Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education.
3. Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing.
4. Ignorant in a specified way or about a specified subject.

   economically illiterate, emotionally illiterate

Synonyms

• analphabetic
• ignorant
• unlettered

Antonyms

• literate

Derived terms

• illiteracy
• illiterately
• illiterateness

Translations

See also

• innumerate (adjective)
• numerate (adjective)

Noun

illiterate (plural illiterates)

1. An illiterate person, one not able to read and write.
2. A person ignorant about a given subject.

   The government is run by business illiterates.

Synonyms

• analphabet
• analphabetic (noun)

Translations

See also

• innumerate (noun)
• numerate (noun)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “illiterate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary