ignorant
Americanadjective
-
lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned.
Although he was an ignorant man, he was very excited to learn.
- Synonyms:
- untaught, untutored, uninstructed
- Antonyms:
- literate
-
lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact.
I admit I'm entirely ignorant of quantum physics.
- Synonyms:
- unenlightened
- Antonyms:
- learned
-
uninformed; unaware.
You'd have to be pretty ignorant not to have heard this news.
-
due to or showing lack of knowledge or training.
Everyone makes an ignorant statement or two when they're first starting out.
adjective
-
lacking in knowledge or education; unenlightened
-
lacking in awareness or knowledge (of)
ignorant of the law
-
resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or awareness
an ignorant remark
Commonly Confused
See stupid ( def. ).
Synonym Usage
Ignorant, illiterate, unlettered, uneducated mean lacking in knowledge or in training. Ignorant may mean knowing little or nothing, or it may mean uninformed about a particular subject: An ignorant person can be dangerous. I confess I'm ignorant of mathematics. Illiterate originally meant lacking a knowledge of literature or similar learning, but is most often applied now to one unable to read or write: necessary training for illiterate soldiers. Unlettered emphasizes the idea of being without knowledge of literature: unlettered though highly trained in science. Uneducated refers especially to lack of schooling or to lack of access to a body of knowledge equivalent to that learned in schools: uneducated but highly intelligent. None of these words mean "lacking in intelligence."
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ignorant
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English ignora(u)nt, from Latin ignōrant-, stem of ignōrāns “not knowing,” present participle of ignōrāre “to not know”; see ignore ( def. ), -ant ( def. )
Explanation
If you make an ignorant comment, your listeners might laugh at you, might get mad at you, or they might patiently instruct you in the ways that you are uninformed. People can be generally ignorant, meaning that they are uneducated and lacking in sophistication. Or people can be ignorant of specific types of information. In fact, we all are. For example, most of us are ignorant of the particulars of nuclear physics and ignorant about what it takes to be an astronaut. Sometimes people are also labeled ignorant if they are rude, inconsiderate, or narrow-minded.
Vocabulary lists containing ignorant
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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List 4
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"Easter, 1916" by W.B. Yeats
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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.
Ignorant of what caused the disease and how it was spread, during the 1916 crisis New York City administrators killed thousands of stray dogs and cats and blasted sidewalks with water.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
Former Wales captain and current Wales Under-18s head coach Siwan Lillicrap, external writing on X: "I can't believe my eyes - shame on you @neathrfc! Ignorant, unacceptable and inappropriate."
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2025
Ignorant of what is happening underwater, many river engineers continue to make bad situations worse by sticking with conventional methods of trying to hold back floods.
From Science Magazine • May 13, 2021
Ignorant because even by the standards at State, where the past must evaporate on an almost daily basis, it is hypocrisy unlimited on the very face of it.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2014
Ignorant, in the Handdara sense: to ignore the abstraction, to hold fast to the thing.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Definitions 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.
