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

Uninitiated onlookers would be forgiven for thinking Inverness were the top-flight side in this one, such was the disparity between them and their blunt opposition.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2023

Uninitiated laymen may perhaps be pardoned for hearing in all this din of battle but the echo of the Schoolmen's guns.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 by Various

Uninitiated as they were in party politics and faction quarrels, they could see nothing in this and other military lapses but proof of a want of martial spirit, if not of cowardice.

From A Half-Century of Conflict - Volume II by Parkman, Francis

Uninitiated persons usually attempted to drink from the flat side, and poured the wine over their clothes.

From Notes and Queries, Number 76, April 12, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Bell, George