1920, In 1916 ten provinces had an illiteracy of over 70 per cent, and but five had less than 40 per cent. — Ellwood Patterson Cubberley, The History of education: Educational Practice and Progress Considered as a Phase of the Development and Spread of Western CivilizationHoughton Mifflin p. 715
1951, No Turkish reformation could be successful that tolerated an illiteracy of 85 per cent among its people. — Victor Lincoln Albjerg, Esther Marguerite Hall Albjerg, Merguerite Hall Albjerg, Europe from 1914 to the PresentMcGraw-Hill p. 449
1982, In comparison, ten years before that, there was still an illiteracy of 82.1% among women, and 55.2% among men (Statistical Yearbook 1974). — Ellen T. Ismail, Social Environment and Daily Routine of Sudanese Women, →ISBN, p. 59
1999, On the other hand, the political structure, characterized by an ineffective administration, a corrupt electoral system, an illiteracy of some 75 percent, and an antiquated educational system, was unable to develop in Spain a capitalist democracy of the level of the rest of Europe. — David T. Gies, The Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture→ISBN p. 21
word, phrase, or grammatical turn of an illiterate person
1975, "Widow woman" is an illiteracy. — Harry Shaw, Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions→ISBN p. 257
1983, The phrase could of is an illiteracy, since of is not a verb. — Morton S. Freeman, A Treasury for Word Lovers→ISBN p. 53
1997, Friendly as an adverb (‘He talked friendly to me') is an illiteracy. — Eric Partridge, Usage and Abusage: a guide to good English : abusus non tollit usum→ISBN p. 121
