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[ adjective ] literate but poorly informed
Used in print (Bell I. Wiley, "Home Letters of Johnny Reb and Billy...)Indeed , no richer humor is to be found in the whole of American literature than in the letters of the semi-literate men who wore the blue and the gray . (Robert E. Lane, The Liberties of Wit: Humanism, Critici...)In the calm which follows the reading of a poem , for_example , is the effect produced by the enforced quiet , by the musical quality of words and rhythm , by the sentiments or sense of the poem , by the associations with earlier readings , if it is familiar , by the boost to the self-esteem for the semi-literate , by the diversion of attention , by the sense of security in a legitimized withdrawal , by a kind license for some variety of fantasy_life regarded_as forbidden , or by half conscious ideas about the magical_power of words ? Related terms |
| 2 |
[ adjective ] barely able to read and write
Examples "an semiliterate scrawl" Used in print (Bell I. Wiley, "Home Letters of Johnny Reb and Billy...)Indeed , no richer humor is to be found in the whole of American literature than in the letters of the semi-literate men who wore the blue and the gray . Related terms |
| 3 |
[ adjective ] able to read but not to write
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