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ignorance Definition

ig·no·rance (ignə rəns)

noun

  1. the condition or quality of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, etc.
  2. unawareness (of)

Etymology: OFr < L ignorantia

ignorance Synonyms

ignorance

n.

  1. Lack of specific knowledge

    unawareness, unconsciousness, unfamiliarity, incomprehension, bewilderment, incapacity, inexperience, simplicity, disregard, obliviousness, insensitivity, sciolism, nescience, shallowness, superficiality, confusion, fog, vagueness, half-knowledge, a little learning, no more than a tyro's background, greenness; see also sense 2, confusion 2.

    Antonyms ability*, learning*, erudition. *

  2. Lack of general knowledge

    illiteracy, unenlightenment, mental incapacity, denseness, dumbness, empty-headedness, crudeness, barbarism, philistinism, vulgarity, obtuseness, unfamiliarity, unintelligence, rawness, benightedness, superstition, darkness, blindness, simplicity, innocence, stolidity, unscholarliness, functional illiteracy, know-nothingism, lack of learning, lack of education, lack of erudition, lack of information; see also sense 1, stupidity 1.

    Antonyms knowledge*, acquaintance*, understanding.

ignorance Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • scripture: But her manifest ignorance of scripture is a matter that I do think worthy of comment.
  • law: Posted by Blue Witch on 2 June, 2004 at 10:39 AM Ray, ignorance of the law has never been an acceptable defense.
  • fact: The original decision was made in ignorance of a material fact.
  • psychology: Ignorance of dynamic psychology is no defense against abreaction.
  • reality: Ignorance of realities can never be eradicated by merely thinking about them.
  • economics: As Nozick noted, Marxist exploitation is mainly exploitation of people's ignorance of economics.

Converse of object

  • feign: It is astonishing that a Canadian immigration official should have feigned ignorance of this.
  • plead: Some administrators may have pleaded ignorance post A day due to the delay in HM Revenue & Customs getting the Online system working.
  • profess: The point is that they were made by the same teachers who had earlier professed almost complete ignorance of Protestant schools.
  • betray: To maintain that they must intervene is to betray ignorance of the elementary principles of prophetic interpretation.
  • dispel: The only way we are going to dispel ignorance is through education.
  • confess: Others may know, but Land-Care confesses ignorance, as to how the judge leading the inquiry ( Lord Hutton ) was appointed.

Adjective modifier

  • blissful: He could see outside, everyone moving around them in blissful ignorance, unable to see what was happening.
  • inexcusable: I delight in his lack of patience with everyone from students to politicians who demonstrate inexcusable ignorance, incompetence or obfuscation.
  • wilful: The first is almost complete and often wilful ignorance of anything that has happened in Church history.
  • woeful: This tablet exposes woeful ignorance of the art of lettering.
  • willful: What really astounds me, tho, is the apparently willful ignorance and short-sightedness of the various experiments devised by their vivisectors.
  • widespread: But the fact you could hear the band above the voices suggested widespread ignorance of the words.

Modifies a noun

  • probability: In most other theories, the probabilities of observations for an individual are thought of as ` ` ignorance probabilities ' ' .
  • cannot: Such as are enveloped in ignorance cannot give God a reasonable service.

Browse dictionary entries near ignorance

  1. ignoramus
  2. ignominy
  3. ignominious
  4. ignoble
  5. ignitron
  6. ignition
  7. ignite
  8. ignis fatuus
  9. ignescent
  10. igneous
  1. ignorant
  2. ignorantia juris non excusat
  3. ignoratio elenchi
  4. ignore
  5. Igorot
  6. IGP
  7. Igraine
  8. Iguaçú
  9. iguana
  10. iguanodon