ignore
Americanverb (used with object)
-
ignores,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ignored,
past participle, past
-
ignoring
present participle
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ignorernoun
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ignorableadjective
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unignorableadjective
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unignoredadjective
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unignoringadjective
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well-ignoredadjective
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unignorablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ignoresimple
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ignoressimple
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have ignoredperfect
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has ignoredperfect
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am ignoringprogressive
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are ignoringprogressive
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is ignoringprogressive
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have been ignoringperfect progressive
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has been ignoringperfect progressive
Past
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ignoredsimple
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had ignoredperfect
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was ignoringprogressive
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were ignoringprogressive
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had been ignoringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ignore
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin ignōrāre “to not know, disregard,” verb derivative of ignārus “ignorant, unaware” (with -ō- perhaps from ignōtus “unknown”), equivalent to in- in- 3 + gnārus “knowing, acquainted (with)”; akin to (g)nōscere “to know 1 ”
Explanation
To ignore something is to disregard it. If you ignore the rules of grammar, you're likely to be misunderstood. It's easy to see the relationship between ignore and a word such as ignorant. To be ignorant of something is to know nothing about it. A good way to be ignorant about something is to ignore it. In other words, if you want to be ignorant about a certain subject—that is, if you want to know nothing about it—then by all means ignore it. Pay it no mind.
Vocabulary lists containing ignore
Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2016 DNC
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Sula
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"Indian Summer Sun" and "Almost Evenly Divided"
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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.
See Examples For:
And while his impartiality occasionally and inevitably falters, the missteps show how difficult, and ultimately useless, it is to ignore humanity’s wide-ranging gray areas to make a beeline for black or white.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Online thrifters like that they save money, help reduce waste and can ignore trends dictated by the industry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
That said, the performances are so captivating that one quickly becomes embroiled in the imperiled fates of the characters and their flailing attempts to either escape or ignore them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
So Jung couldn't ignore what she was seeing.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
There were always the awful emails that came with any announcement of their Jewish Film Festival, but those were easy to ignore, especially once she figured out how to train her email filters.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
In a statement shared with US media, lawyers for Black called the House move an "outrageous action that ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black".
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
A superintelligent AI system that ignores human goals or misinterprets commands could, naysayers say, scramble people’s bank accounts, disrupt essential water and power supplies, or take over missile-launch systems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
But plans to reconnect South Korea's northernmost station to the rail network come at an awkward moment, as Pyongyang ignores Seoul's overtures while the South's old ally Washington pursues its own talks with Pyongyang.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The case not only ignores these major competitors in the theatrical market but also pretends this market represents the entirety of the competitive playing field.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
He ignores Bushra and Alan, in the same way he ignores his wife most of the time.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
These sanitized accounts ignored the homemade dangers, such as the health problems fostered by an overstretched military — realities many children would face when a changed parent finally came home.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
The committee’s decision was unusual and ignored the opposition of agency scientists, according to Time magazine.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Von der Leyen had previously proposed a social media "delay" for children in Europe, saying in May that "the discussion about a minimum age for social media can no longer be ignored".
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Under Lozano Jr., the paper expanded and shifted from foreign news to covering local issues that affected Latinos, topics that were either ignored or misinterpreted by its English-language counterparts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Regan yelled after me, but I ignored her as I quickly typed a few key words into the computer’s state-of-the-art history search engine.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Agents and bots in its labs were caught scheming, hiding errors and ignoring restraints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
A perfect marriage of horror and comedy, ‘Widow’s Bay’ reminds us that ignoring monsters won’t make them go away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Google was sued by Mexico over allegedly ignoring the country's requests not to rename the Gulf for US users.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Taxing raw aluminum while ignoring derivative products only encourages the downstream fabrication industry to offshore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Great!” the man enthused, ignoring or not hearing the surlier comments.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
