ignorant Hear it!

ignorant Definition

ig·no·rant (ig′nə rənt)

adjective

    1. having little knowledge, education, or experience; uneducated; inexperienced
    2. lacking knowledge (in a particular area or matter)
  2. caused by or showing lack of knowledge or education
  3. unaware (of)

Etymology: OFr < L ignorans, prp. of ignorare: see ignore

ignorant Related Forms
ig′·no·rantly adverb
ignorant Synonyms

ignorant

modif.

  1. Unaware

    unconscious, uninformed, unknowing, uninitiated, inexperienced, unwitting, unmindful, disregarding, misinformed, unsuspecting, oblivious, insensible, mindless, witless, unconversant with, unintelligent, obtuse, thick, dense, moronic, imbecilic, shallow-brained, cretinous, unbookish, inept at learning, not gifted in learning, unscholarly, unscientific, half-learned, bird-brained*, sappy*, in the dark*, out of it*; see also sense 2, dull 3, shallow 2, stupid 1, unaware.

    Antonyms alert, aware, cognizant.

  2. Untrained

    illiterate, uneducated, unlettered, unlearned, untaught, uninstructed, uncultivated, unenlightened, untutored, unread, unschooled, inexperienced, uninformed, nescient, benighted, superstitious, shallow, superficial, coarse, vulgar, crude, gross, gauche, callow, green, naive, simple, ingenuous, inerudite, know-nothing, destitute of knowledge, misinformed, misguided, just beginning, undergoing apprenticeship, apprenticed, unbriefed, lowbrow*; see also inexperienced, naive.

    Antonyms learned*, educated, knowledgeable.

ignorant implies a lack of knowledge, either generally an ignorant man or on some particular subject ignorant of the reason for their quarrel; illiterate implies a failure to conform to some standard of knowledge, esp. an inability to read or write; unlettered, sometimes a milder term for illiterate, often implies unfamiliarity with fine literature although a graduate engineer, he is relatively unlettered; uneducated and untutored imply a lack of formal or systematic education, as of that acquired in schools his brilliant, though uneducated mind; unlearned suggests a lack of learning, either generally or in some specific subject unlearned in science

ignorant Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • fact: The man is either totally ignorant of the facts or an abject liar.
  • truth: Mankind, ignorant of the truths that lie within every human being, looked outward - pushed ever outward.
  • mystery: Tho you are ignorant of some mysteries of religion, do not despond; Christ doth not give you all at once.
  • reality: What is the consequence of their proving " ignorant of the Reality in point of fact?
  • existence: They were not a people ignorant of the existence of Allah, nor did they refuse to worship Him.

Modifying Another Word

  • blissfully: To be blissfully ignorant of doubt is an easy way out, a self failure.
  • woefully: It is quite helpful to me as I am woefully ignorant when it comes to matters of economics at this level.
  • appallingly: Scott and Shackleton were not particularly interested in ice and snow and were appallingly ignorant of skis, sledges and furs.
  • profoundly: Indeed, on every subject beside mathematics, he was profoundly ignorant.
  • utterly: What is more, for the granddaughter of the chief Louver curator, she is represented as utterly ignorant of art history.
  • totally: The man is either totally ignorant of the facts or an abject liar.

Modifies a noun

  • fool: He takes Neo from being an ignorant fool, who is always in trouble with the authorities.
  • peasant: It was a stunning victory by supposedly ' ignorant European peasants ' .
  • superstition: They actually believe that they are taking part in nothing more than a modern mockery of ignorant superstitions from the past.
  • savage: No, the government thinks it can do things best without us ignorant savages butting in.
  • ancestor: We are now reaping the results of the crop sown by our ignorant ancestors.
  • prejudice: I was not offended, just pointing out that factually there is no good reason for screening a program that feeds ignorant prejudice.

Used with adjective complement

  • remain: He who remains ignorant of these, shall never be able to bring to pass any wonderful matter.
  • appear: She pretended to understand, in order not to appear ignorant.
  • seem: We will all probably seem very ignorant in a mere hundred years let alone a thousand or ten thousand.
ignorant Quotes

Be not ignorant of any thing in a great matter or a small.

—Bible (Apocrypha)

True science teaches, above all, to doubt and to be ignorant.

—Unamuno, Miguel de

Un sot savant est sot plus qu'un sot ignorant. A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant fool. 590

—Molie'  re,Jean Baptiste Poquelin

If girls aren't ignorant, they're cultured† You can't avoid suffering.

—Cooper,William pseudonym of  Harry Summerfield Hoff

These two ignorant and unpolished people had guided themselves so faron in their journey of life, bya religious sense of duty and desire to do right.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

The atrocious crime of being a young man, which [Walpole] has, with such spirit and decency, charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies cease with their youth, and not of those who continue ignorant in spite of their age and experience.

—Pitt,William, 1st Earl of Chatham known as  the Elder

There is sometimes a greater judgement shewn in deviating from the rules of art, than in adhering to them; and†there ismore beauty inthe works of a great genius who is ignorant of all the rules of art, than in the works of a little genius, who not only knows but scrupulously observes them.

—Addison,Joseph

'Twonations; betweenwhomthere isnointercourseand no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed bya different breeding, are fed by a different 276 food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.' 'You speak ofö'said Egremont, hesitatingly.'THE RICH ANDTHE POOR.'

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Nempe falluntur homines, quod se liberos esse putant; quae opinioinhoc soloconsistit, quodsuarum actionum sint conscii, et ignari causarum, a quibus determinantur. Haec ergo est eorum libertatis idea, quod suarum actionum nullam cognoscant causam. Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; and this opinion consists of this alone, that theyare conscious of their actions and ignorant of the causes by which they are determined. This, therefore, is their idea of liberty, that they should know no cause of their actions.

—Spinoza, Baruch also known as Benedict de Spinoza

You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

—Rogers,Will

   I do not consider it an insult but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sureöthat is all that agnosticism means.

—Darrow, Clarence Seward

Men ignorant of letters, studious for their bellies, and ignominiously lazy.

—Sandys, George

Surely of all 'rights of man', this right of the ignorant man tobeguided by thewiser, tobe, gentlyor forcibly, held in the true course by him, is the indisputablest.

—Carlyle,Thomas

The man whose life is spent in performing a few simple operations of which the effects too are, perhaps, always the same or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention. He generally becomes asstupidand ignorant asit ispossible for a human creature to become.

—Smith, Adam

His eyesight has always been weak, a sort of film over the eyes. A doctor advised him not to read, but he said, 'Then I should be ignorant', and he refused an operation because there was a thousandth chance he might go blind and so remain ignorant.

—Gregory, Lady Isabella Augusta ne¤  e Persse

What theydo in heaven we are ignorant of: what theydo not we aretold expressly, that they neither marry, norare given in marriage.

—Swift,Jonathan

Talis, inquiens, mihi videtur, rex, vita hominum praesens in terris, ad comparationem eius, quod nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente, ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis tempore brumale†adveniens unus passerum domum citissime, pervolaverit; qui cum per unum ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate non tangitur, sed tamen parvissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in hiemem regrediens, tuis oculis elabitur. Ita haec vita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidve praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus. 'Such,' he said,'O King, seems to me the present life of menon earth, incomparisonwiththattimewhichtousis uncertain, as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting with your ealdormen and thegnsöa single sparrow should flyswiftly intothehall, and coming inat one door, instantly flyoutthrough another.Inthattime inwhichit is indoorsit isindeed nottouched by thefuryofthewinter, and yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from winter going into winter again, it is lost to your eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man; but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.'

—Bede known as  'theVenerable'

We live ignorant and die in errancy as we lived.

—Abu'l-'Ala¤   Al-Ma'arri

Browse dictionary entries near ignorant

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