benighted
Americanadjective
-
intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened.
benighted ages of barbarism and superstition.
- Synonyms:
- uncultivated, crude, primitive, backward
-
overtaken by darkness or night.
adjective
-
lacking cultural, moral, or intellectual enlightenment; ignorant
-
archaic overtaken by night
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of benighted
Explanation
Being called benighted is much like being called naive. It means lacking in knowledge or understanding—the kind you might have if you were older or more sophisticated. Although it sounds a lot like "being knighted", benighted has nothing to do with knights and, in fact, includes the word "night" (as in the opposite of day) and not "knight" (as in "of the Round Table"). One way to remember what benighted means is to think of a person "being nighted" or, put into the dark. A benighted person is in the dark about things: they don't know because they can't see. The Dark Ages are thought to have been a benighted time, full of primitive ideas.
Vocabulary lists containing benighted
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Once and Future King
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is the latest in a litany of disasters to befall one of the most benighted industrial cities in Europe, repeatedly blanketed in lethal smoke from similar blazes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Phenomenal amounts of self-righteous bloviating about enlightened or benighted child-feeding have gone on for centuries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It’s more like an existential dilemma, both for our bewildered and benighted country and for the world.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2026
In February 2018, she wrote an article for the Washington Post, calling Bostic's sentence "benighted and unjust".
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2023
Nelson, as usual, was the one who finally took pity upon our benighted stupidity and told us what was up: kukwela.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
