uninitiated

British  

/ ˌʌnɪˈnɪʃɪeɪtɪd /

adjective

1. 1. not having gained knowledge or experience of a particular subject or activity

   2. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the )

      the uninitiated

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Explanation

Someone who's uninitiated is inexperienced or lacking an insider's knowledge of a subject. For the uninitiated viewer, experimental films are just plain strange. If you come into a new situation without any background information or direct experience, you're uninitiated. An uninitiated guest of the Queen will be confused about when to bow or curtsy and which fork to use at lunch. For an uninitiated reader, the names and faces in a celebrity gossip magazine will be meaningless. To be initiated is to have secret or special knowledge. Add the prefix un-, and you get this adjective meaning "lacking knowledge."

Example Sentences

For the uninitiated, the U.S. version asked contestants to choose one of 26 unmarked briefcases containing between 1 cent and $1 million.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Combining romance and sport may seem unusual to the uninitiated - but to some readers in the room, it made perfect sense.

From BBC • Jan. 17, 2026

It serves as a showcase for his substantial gifts as a songwriter, and efficiently brings the uninitiated up to speed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025

For the uninitiated, “Cabaret” begins with a marionette-like male character named the Emcee, the omnipresent master of ceremonies of an underground Kit Kat Club in 1931 Berlin, smiling into a warped mirror.

From Salon • Oct. 4, 2025

The names of the tunnels alone—the Variable-Density Tunnel, the Free-Flight Tunnel, the Two-Foot Smoke-Flow Tunnel, the Eleven- Inch High-Speed Tunnel—challenged the uninitiated to imagine the combination of pressure, velocity, and dimension that resided therein.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly