know-nothing

[noh-nuhth-ing]

noun

1. an ignorant or totally uninformed person; ignoramus.

2. an agnostic.

3. (initial capital letters),  a member of a political party American party, or Know-Nothing party prominent from 1853 to 1856, whose aim was to keep control of the government in the hands of native-born citizens: so called because members originally professed ignorance of the party's activities.

4. a person whose anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, and other political attitudes recall the Know-Nothings.

adjective

1. grossly ignorant; totally uninformed.

2. agnostic.

3. (initial capital letters),  of or relating to the Know-Nothings.

4. of or relating to a political know-nothing.

know-nothing

noun

1. informal,  an ignorant person

Other Word Forms

• know-nothingism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of know-nothing¹

First recorded in 1815–25; 1850–55 know-nothing for defs. 3, 7

Example Sentences

Equally as edifying is Lincoln’s 1858 “electric cord” speech, which explicitly confronted Know-Nothing xenophobia.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

His know-nothing rabble-rousing appalled progressives who otherwise admired him for his principled stands against the Vietnam War and in favor of campaign finance reform.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

As much as Forrest is a know-nothing, except when it comes to knowing what love is, he’s also a do-nothing when it comes to acknowledging systemic wrongdoing.

Read more on Salon

In the 1850s the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party elected governors and state legislators.

Read more on Slate

In 1856, former President Millard Fillmore, then the Know-Nothing candidate for president, won 21.6 percent of the popular vote and eight electoral votes.

Read more on Slate

Related Words

• ignorant 
• illiterate 
• unschooled