ignoramus

[ ig-nuh-rey-muhs, -ram-uhs ]
See synonyms for ignoramus on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural ig·no·ra·mus·es.
  1. an extremely ignorant person.

Origin of ignoramus

1
1570–80; <Latin ignōrāmus we ignore (1st person plural present indicative of ignōrāre to be ignorant of, ignore); hence name of an ignorant lawyer in the play Ignoramus (1615) by the English playwright G. Ruggle, whence current sense

Other words for ignoramus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ignoramus in a sentence

  • Errors of ignoramuses, who only distinguish animals by their horns and think a slaughter-house ox the same as a fighting-bull!

    The Blood of the Arena | Vicente Blasco Ibez

British Dictionary definitions for ignoramus

ignoramus

/ (ˌɪɡnəˈreɪməs) /


nounplural -muses
  1. an ignorant person; fool

Origin of ignoramus

1
C16: from legal Latin, literally: we have no knowledge of, from Latin ignōrāre to be ignorant of; see ignore; modern usage originated from the use of Ignoramus as the name of an unlettered lawyer in a play by G. Ruggle, 17th-century English dramatist

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012