IGNORANT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ignorant

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/ˈɪgnərənt/ Listen

adjective

Ignorant adj.

Destitute of knowledge; uninstructed or uninformed; untaught; unenlightened. "He that doth not know those things which are of use for him to know, is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides."

Unacquainted with; unconscious or unaware; used with of. "Ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame."

Unknown; undiscovered. (Obs.) "Ignorant concealment." "Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?"

Resulting from ignorance; foolish; silly. "His shipping, Poor ignorant baubles! on our terrible seas, Like eggshells moved."

Synonyms: Uninstructed; untaught; unenlightened; uninformed; unlearned; unlettered; illiterate. Ignorant, Illiterate. Ignorant denotes lack of knowledge, either as to single subject or information in general; illiterate refers to an ignorance of letters, or of knowledge acquired by reading and study. In the Middle Ages, a great proportion of the higher classes were illiterate, and yet were far from being ignorant, especially in regard to war and other active pursuits. "In such business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant More learned than the ears." "In the first ages of Christianity, not only the learned and the wise, but the ignorant and illiterate, embraced torments and death."

noun

Ignorant n. A person untaught or uninformed; one unlettered or unskilled; an ignoramous. "Did I for this take pains to teach Our zealous ignorants to preach?"

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Etymology of 'Ignorant'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ignorant" Quotes from Famous Books

... the world I have not written to you, it was because of the high opinion I have ever entertained of your wisdom and prudence. How could I think that she stood in need of help on whom Heaven had showered its best gifts? You were able, I knew, by example as by word, to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the timid, to kindle ...

— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner

... treats you worse than the worst the North can do; for, lacking the price, it denies you access to the abundance that mocks you in every shop window, and bars you out of the houses that line the streets. Here, everything needful is yours for the taking. If one is ignorant, or unable to convert wood and water and game to his own uses, he must learn how, or pay the penalty of incompetence. No, little person, I don't think the law of life is nearly so harsh here as it is where the mob struggles for its daily bread. It's more open and aboveboard here; ...

— North of Fifty-Three • Bertrand W. Sinclair

... Ignorant then of Mexico and its customs, I had fancied that when a proper hour arrived for a call on the Alcalde, Don Nemecio Garcia, I should have a chance to warm myself properly and had charitably asked my three mates to accompany me on the visit. ...

— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson

... as a crime specially to be laid to the charge of the student in entomology; but some of the greatest workers in that science have been ladies and clergymen, as also laymen of the most humane and advanced scientific principles. A vast amount of ignorant ideas, carefully nursed, are used as weapons against the entomologist—the pet one of which is, that impalement of a living insect through the head constitutes the sole aim and end of ...

— Practical Taxidermy • Montagu Browne

... "Do you want to hear what I think? Don't I know how old she is; eight years old and ignorant of everything. They have told me that you refuse to send her to church and to school. She is my only sister's child, and I shall not bear it, for I am responsible. You do not care for her, how else could you be indifferent to such luck. You had better give way or I shall ...

— Heidi - (Gift Edition) • Johanna Spyri

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