literacy
nounUK /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/ · CA, US /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/
Etymology From liter(ate) + -acy.
1
The ability to read and write.
- Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday (September 8, 2025) declared Himachal as a “fully literate State” on the occasion of International Literary Day. […] Journey from 7% to 99.30%: The Chief Minister said Himachal Pradesh had reached this goal well before the scheduled timeframe, adding that the journey from minimal literacy rate of around 7% to full literacy had been full of challenges, yet the State had consistently moved forward with the aim of providing quality education. […] Mr. Sukhu said the literacy rate in Himachal Pradesh had reached 99.30%, which is higher than the national benchmark of 95% […] Union Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar, in a video message, congratulated Himachal Pradesh on this achievement and emphasised the importance of providing skill-based education to the newly literate.2025 September 8, “Himachal Pradesh becomes ‘fully literate State’. CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu says the literacy rate in Himachal reached 99.30%, which is higher than the national benchmark of 95% with the hill State ranking first in student-teacher ratio”, in The Hindu:
2
Broadly The ability to understand and evaluate something.
- computer literacy
- media literacy
2 more examples
- Prof Alan McKee, who led the project, argues that young adults should be taught “porn literacy” to help them “read porn well” and look for healthy and ethical depictions of sex.2023 June 9, Tory Shepherd, “Can pornography be healthy? If it follows six rules, perhaps”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Returning to the school years later, Diakabana discovered it was a school guard. She wanted to repay him. "He told me to help others when I could, so I launched a scholarship program," says Diakabana, who now lives in Switzerland and is co-founder of The Luminous Agency, which focuses on digital literacy.2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR:
- Antonyms
- illiteracy
- Derived terms
33 terms
aliteracy, antiliteracy, biliteracy, carbon literacy, cineliteracy, computeracy, computer literacy, cultural literacy, cyberliteracy, data literacy, disciplinary literacy, ecoliteracy, electracy, e-literacy, emergent literacy, food literacy, health literacy, hyperliteracy, information literacy, mediacy, media literacy, metaliteracy, multiliteracy, pluriliteracy, preliteracy, protoliteracy, quasiliteracy, semiliteracy, sexual literacy, subliteracy, technoliteracy, transliteracy, triliteracy- Related terms
- graphicacy, letter, literal, literary, literate, literature, numeracy