aliteracy

Etymology

From a- + literacy.

aliteracy means the state of having the ability to read, but lacking interest in doing so. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ALITERACY — [Noun] The state of being able to read, yet choosing not to—a functional literacy divorced from any desire to engage with the written word. From the English prefix a- (expressing absence or negation) + literacy (the ability to read and write). Unlike illiteracy, a prison of inability, or bibliophilia, a gluttonous feast, aliteracy is the quiet refusal at a fully set table. It is the pristine, uncreased spine of the gifted novel, the unread terms and conditions swiftly scrolled past, the newspaper left to yellow on the stoop in the morning rain—a conscious vote for the immediate image over the enduring thought, a door not locked but simply never turned.

noun

The state of having the ability to read, but lacking interest in doing so.“Curiously the perfect weapon against rampant aliteracy emerged more than 50 years ago in the form of an utterly addictive synthesis of word and picture: the comic book.”