know-nothing Hear it!

know-nothing definition

know·-nothing (nō′nut̸h′iŋ)

noun

  1. an ignorant person; ignoramus
  2. Rare an agnostic
  3. a member of a secret political party in the U.S. in the 1850s with a program of keeping out of public office anyone not a native-born American: so called because members professed ignorance of the party's activities

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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