Skip to main content
uneducable

uneducable

1 8.8
Not able or willing to learn from teaching
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnˈɛdʒʊkəbl/
  • Offensive
translation icon : ineducable
  • All children, including those who previously had been considered uneducable, were entitled to a "free and appropriate public education."

Examples

  • It used to be that Laconia State School and the Concord State Hospital were places to hide those who were considered uneducable.

    Blog text (34)
  • The stereotype of the poor, inner-city, one-parent, low-achieving, undisciplined, and uneducable black child has a high degree of salience throughout this literature.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Needs more pay for each test passed, and most improved, previously uneducable kids will perform.

    Blog text (17)
  • I spent my Friday afternoon and evening attempting to educate the uneducable.

    Blog text (25)
  • They should not be placed in activities set aside for students the teacher has deemed uneducable.

    Academic text (1998)
  • They saw Indians as uncivilized, dirty, and uneducable.

    Academic text (2000)
  • What seems to terrify here is the idea that these individuals cannot be safely reintegrated into society, that they are in some sense uneducable, permanently outside the control of adults.

    Academic text (2004)
  • More than two decades ago, the Association of Black Psychologists (Williams 1970) summed up the position of critics of the use of test data for black children when it charged that tests: label black children as uneducable; place black children in special classes; potentiate inferior education; assign black children to lower education tracks than whites; deny black children higher educational opportunities; and destroy positive intellectual growth and development of black children (p. 5).

    Academic text (1992)
  • The school struggled to accommodate students who were labeled as uneducable due to their special needs.

  • Teachers faced challenges while trying to reach children who were deemed uneducable by previous educators.

Synonyms

untrainable
vsuneducable
1 7.0

Impossible or very hard to teach to follow instructions

refers more broadly to people or things not able to be educated or taught
unteachable
vsuneducable
1 5.4

Impossible to teach, usually needing natural talent or personal experience

applies to people who cannot be taught due to inability or unwillingness
ineducable
vsuneducable
9.1

Not able to be taught

is the same adjective but uses the other common prefix form

Antonyms

14 3.5

Willing and able to learn from advice and feedback

1 3.9

Able to learn with the right teaching and support

How Teachable

teachable
14 3.5
difficult
1.6
uneducable
  • Offensive
1 8.8

Surface Forms

uneducable positive

Morphology

uneducable = educable (transparent) = un + educ + able

The adjective is formed by straightforward prefixation: 'un-' (not) + 'educable' (capable of being educated).

Etymology

Uneducable is built from un- meaning 'not' and educate, the same root as education, which means 'to teach' or 'bring up'. So uneducable means 'not able to be taught'.