ignorant

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See also: Ignorant

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French ignorant. By surface analysis, ignore +‎ -ant.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɪɡnəɹənt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ig‧no‧rant

Adjective

ignorant (comparative ignoranter or more ignorant, superlative ignorantest or most ignorant)

  1. Unknowledgeable or uneducated; characterized by ignorance.
    • 1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: , 8th edition, London: T. Goodwin, B Tooke, and J. Pemberton, ; J. Round , and J Tonson] , published 1720, →OCLC:
      That man that doth not know those things which are of use and necessity for him to know, is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides;
    • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, chapter 15, in The Vicar of Wakefield, volume I, London: F. Newbery, page 150:
      The ignorant peasant, without fault, is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without an heart?
  2. Not knowing (a fact or facts), unaware (of something).
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 1:8:
      For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
    • 1677, John Dryden, The State of Innocence and Fall of Man, London: Henry Herringman, act II, page 14:
      Eve. Somewhat forbids me, which I cannot name;
      For ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame:
      But some restraining thought, I know not why,
      Tells me, you long should beg, I long deny.
    • 1851, Walt Whitman, “Art and Artists” in Emory Holloway (editor), The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921, Volume 1, p. 242,
      perhaps it is sometimes the case that the greatest artists live and die, the world and themselves alike ignorant what they possess.
    • 1921, John T. McCutcheon, The Restless Age, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, page 179:
      That night he slept the sleep of happiness, blissfully ignorant that he had placed the letters in the wrong envelopes.
  3. (slang) Ill-mannered, crude.
    His manner was at best off-hand, at worst totally ignorant.
  4. (obsolete) unknown; undiscovered
  5. Resulting from ignorance; foolish; silly.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      [] his shipping—
      Poor ignorant baubles!— upon our terrible seas,
      Like eggshells moved upon their surges, crack’d
      As easily ’gainst our rocks:
    • 1916, Mark Twain, chapter 8, in Albert Paine, editor, The Mysterious Stranger, New York: Harper & Bros., page 112:
      He had never felt a pain or a sorrow, and did not know what they were, in any really informing way. He had no knowledge of them except theoretically—that is to say, intellectually. And of course that is no good. One can never get any but a loose and ignorant notion of such things except by experience.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

ignorant (plural ignorants)

  1. One who is ignorant.

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin ignōrantem.

Adjective

ignorant m or f (masculine and feminine plural ignorants)

  1. ignorant

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

ignorant

  1. gerund of ignorar

Further reading

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

ignorant m anim

  1. ignoramus, ignorant
    Synonyms: nevědomec, neználek
    Antonym: znalec
    Antonym: vševěd

Declension

Further reading

  • ignorant”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • ignorant”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • ignorant in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

Danish

Etymology

From Latin ignōrāns (not knowing).

Pronunciation

Adjective

ignorant (plural and definite singular attributive ignorante)

  1. ignorant

Inflection

ignorant

Noun

ignorant c (singular definite ignoranten, plural indefinite ignoranter)

  1. ignoramus

Inflection

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

ignorant (comparative ignoranter, superlative ignorantst)

  1. ignorant

Declension

Declension of ignorant
uninflected ignorant
inflected ignorante
comparative ignoranter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial ignorant ignoranter het ignorantst
het ignorantste
indefinite m./f. sing. ignorante ignorantere ignorantste
n. sing. ignorant ignoranter ignorantste
plural ignorante ignorantere ignorantste
definite ignorante ignorantere ignorantste
partitive ignorants ignoranters

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin ignōrantem.

Adjective

ignorant (feminine ignorante, masculine plural ignorants, feminine plural ignorantes)

  1. ignorant

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

ignorant

  1. present participle of ignorer

Further reading

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ignōrāns.

Pronunciation

Adjective

ignorant (strong nominative masculine singular ignoranter, comparative ignoranter, superlative am ignorantesten)

  1. willfully ignorant, arrogantly disinterested in knowledge

Declension

Further reading

  • ignorant” in Duden online
  • ignorant” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Latin

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

ignōrant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō

Etymology 2

Verb

ignōrant

  1. third-person plural pluperfect active indicative of ignōscō

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin ignōrāns.

Pronunciation

Adjective

ignorant m (feminine singular ignoranta, masculine plural ignorants, feminine plural ignorantas)

  1. ignorant

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

Adjective

ignorant

  1. ignorant

Noun

ignorant m

  1. ignorant (person)

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ignōrantis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iɡˈnɔ.rant/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔrant
  • Syllabification: ig‧no‧rant

Noun

ignorant m pers (female equivalent ignorantka)

  1. ignorant

Declension

Derived terms

adjective
noun

Further reading

  • ignorant in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • ignorant in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ignorant.

Adjective

ignorant m or n (feminine singular ignorantă, masculine plural ignoranți, feminine and neuter plural ignorante)

  1. ignorant

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iɡnǒrant/
  • Hyphenation: ig‧no‧rant

Noun

ignòrant m (Cyrillic spelling игно̀рант)

  1. ignorant

Declension