know-nothing
Americannoun
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an ignorant or totally uninformed person; ignoramus.
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an agnostic.
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(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.
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a person whose anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, and other political attitudes recall the Know-Nothings.
adjective
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grossly ignorant; totally uninformed.
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(initial capital letters) of or relating to the Know-Nothings.
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of or relating to a political know-nothing.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of know-nothing
First recorded in 1815–25; 1850–55 know-nothing for defs. 3, 7
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.
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.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2025
The effort always includes promotional videos, such as one this summer featuring a know-it-all who is exposed as a know-nothing because he doesn’t know where tickets are sold.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 28, 2022
And then there is the deeper problem: You might be outed as a know-nothing interloper, a gawky tourist, when all many people want when they travel is to masquerade as “a local.”
From Slate • Jan. 25, 2018
A loud-talking know-nothing who would not go anywhere.
From Washington Post • Jun. 5, 2016
“These know-nothing kids thinking Ali could’ve taken Joe Louis.”
From "145th Street: Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
