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ignorant
[ ig-ner-uhnt ]
/ ˈɪg nər ənt /
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adjective
OTHER WORDS FOR ignorant
VIDEO FOR IGNORANT
What Is The Difference Between "Stupid" And "Ignorant"?
Do you know the difference between the words "stupid" and "ignorant"? This man didn't either until, one day, he realized he should probably look the meanings up. Now, he can explain!
QUIZ
ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ
There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!
Question 1 of 7
True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.
Origin of ignorant
synonym study for ignorant
1. 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."
historical usage of ignorant
Ignorant comes via Old French from Latin ignōrant-, the inflectional stem of ignōrāns, the present participle of ignōrāre “to be unaware of, be ignorant of, not know.” Ignōrāre also means “to disregard” and is the source of English ignore. Ignōrāre is related to the Latin verb gnoscere (more commonly noscere ) “to know,” from the same Proto-Indo-European root gnō- “to know” as English know and Slavic (Polish) znać “to know.” An interesting use of ignorant appears in Mark Twain’s “Old Times on the Mississippi,” an essay he wrote for The Atlantic Monthly in 1875 and that was later incorporated into chapter 4 of Life on the Mississippi (1883): “This fellow had money, too, and hair oil. Also an ignorant silver watch and a showy brass watch chain.” By transferring the “lacking in knowledge” sense of ignorant from human beings to an object, the ever-clever Twain beautifully and succinctly described a timepiece that doesn’t tell the correct time.
OTHER WORDS FROM ignorant
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH ignorant
ignorant , stupidWords nearby ignorant
ignominious, ignominy, ignoramus, ignorance, Ignorance is bliss, ignorant, ignoratio elenchi, ignore, ignotum per ignotius, Igorot, Igraine
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ignorant in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for ignorant
ignorant
/ (ˈɪɡnərənt) /
adjective
lacking in knowledge or education; unenlightened
(postpositive often foll by of) lacking in awareness or knowledge (of)ignorant of the law
resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or awarenessan ignorant remark
Derived forms of ignorant
ignorantly, adverbCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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