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