ignorant
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Old French ignorant, from Latin ignōrāns (“unaware, unknowing”). By surface analysis, ignore + -ant.
Inflected forms:
form: ignoranter
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more ignorant
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: ignorantest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most ignorant
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: ignoraunt
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: ignant
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: ignorants
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ignoraunt
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: ignant
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Unknowledgeable or uneducated; characterized by ignorance.
pos: adj
examples: That man that doth not know those things which are of use and necessity for him to know, is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides;
The ignorant peasant, without fault, is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without an heart?
gloss: Not knowing (a fact or facts), unaware (of something).
pos: adj
examples: For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
Eve. Somewhat forbids me, which I cannot name;
For ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame:
But some restraining thought, I know not why,
Tells me, you long should beg, I long deny.
1851, Walt Whitman, “Art and Artists” in Emory Holloway (editor), The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921, Volume 1, p. 242,
[…] perhaps it is sometimes the case that the greatest artists live and die, the world and themselves alike ignorant what they possess.
That night he slept the sleep of happiness, blissfully ignorant that he had placed the letters in the wrong envelopes.
gloss: Ill-mannered, crude.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: His manner was at best off-hand, at worst totally ignorant.
gloss: Unknown; undiscovered
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
[…] I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
Thereof to be inform’d, imprison't not
In ignorant concealment.
1845, Robert Browning, letter addressed to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, cited in Percy Lubbock, Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Her Letters, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906, Chapter 4, p. 106,
[…] as to you, your goodness and understanding will always see to the bottom of involuntary or ignorant faults—always help me to correct them.
gloss: Resulting from ignorance; foolish; silly.
pos: adj
examples: […] his shipping—
Poor ignorant baubles!— upon our terrible seas,
Like eggshells moved upon their surges, crack’d
As easily ’gainst our rocks:
He had never felt a pain or a sorrow, and did not know what they were, in any really informing way. He had no knowledge of them except theoretically—that is to say, intellectually. And of course that is no good. One can never get any but a loose and ignorant notion of such things except by experience.
gloss: One who is ignorant.
pos: noun
Synonyms: benighted
cimmerian
clueless
foolish
ignorant
ill-informed
illiterate
innocent
lack-learning
lay
lewd
loreless
nescient
oblivious
philistine
tenebrose
unaware
uncultivated
uncultured
uneducated
unenlightened
unerudite
uninformed
unknowing
unknowledgeable
unlearned
unlearnt
unlettered
unmindful
unread
unscholarly
unschooled
untaught
untrained
untutored
unwitting
Antonyms: educated
familiar
knowledgable
learned
trained
wise
Related words: agnorant
ignorable
ignoramus
ignorance
ignore
impolite
Derived words: ignorantism
ignorantist
ignorantly
ignorantness
ignorati
nonignorant
pig-ignorant
superignorant
unignorant
Translations: