semiliterate

1. not comparableNot entirely literate; having a limited grasp of the written language.

   With the necessary prowess of the semiliterate, Heed had a flawless memory, and like most nonreaders, she was highly numerate.

   2003, Toni Morrison, Love, Vintage (2016), page 75

   Synonyms: subliterate

plural semiliterates

1. A person who is semiliterate.

   1 more example

   If Rita Mae Brown were an exceptional writer, I might be more willing to give an ear to her pontificating […] But even as a pulp writer, Brown will have to treat lesbians as more than a bunch of anencephalic semi-literates who will sanctify her name forevermore. We have to have the guts to say, "Keep editing, Rita Mae; paper is cheap and we expect better!"

   1988 December 11, Susana Darwin, “Keep Editing, Rita Mae”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 22, page 10

   Synonyms: subliterate