Ignorant shares a root with the word ignore, one of those etymological connections which appear obvious once they are pointed out, yet remained overlooked by most. Both words come from the Latin ignorare (“to ignore, be ignorant of”). There are several meanings of ignorant, all of which are concerned with a lack of knowledge in some sense; some of these are more insulting than others, and care should be exercised before applying this word to people who you do not wish to offend. Saying “They were ignorant of most of the laws of physics” means that the people in question did not have a specific body of learning. Saying “You are an ignorant person” is possibly describing someone as primitive, crude, or uncivilized.
ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing.
an ignorant fool
ignorant of nuclear physics
illiterate applies to either an absolute or a relative inability to read and write.
much of the population is still illiterate
unlettered implies ignorance of the knowledge gained by reading.
an allusion meaningless to the unlettered
untutored may imply lack of schooling in the arts and ways of civilization.
strange monuments built by an untutored people
unlearned suggests ignorance of advanced subjects.
poetry not for academics but for the unlearned masses
Example Sentences
… the World Series of the wild-card era is the pull of a slot-machine lever, a game of chance ignorant of form. Regularly populated now with second-place clubs or flavor-of-the-month teams more than dominant regular-season franchises … Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 30 Oct. 2006That may be especially true for today's … 13-year-olds, whose own moms and dads grew up largely ignorant of car seats, bike helmets, antibacterial soaps and childproof locks … Nancy Gibbs, Time, 8 Aug. 2005The joke is that the film was not his work. To refer to a producer's oeuvre is, at least to me, as ignorant as to refer to the oeuvre of a stockbroker. David Mamet, Jafsie and John Henry: Essays, 1999 He is an ignorant old racist. She was ignorant about the dangers of the drug. It was an ignorant mistake. See More
Recent Examples on the WebInfidels are by definition misguided and prone to ignorant, invidious ideas. Reuel Marc Gerecht, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022 Marjorie Taylor Greene’s status as Congress’s most ignorant member is at stake in Alaska’s special election, Greene’s aides have acknowledged. Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2022 Warner, along with Carlisle superintendent Moses Friedman, disingenuously cast Thorpe as a simple, ignorant Indian boy who turned professional without their knowledge. Aram Goudsouzian, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2022 Jones treated them as ignorant pawns ripe for his political objectives. Morgan Simon, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022 And f--- you to the ignorant right wing extremists who want my daughter to have fewer rights than what I was born with. Charmaine Patterson, PEOPLE.com, 28 June 2022 The filmmakers dive into the precarious ease of remaining ignorant to the suffering of others. Holly Jones, Variety, 30 Apr. 2022 MacDonald called the digital blackface characterization ignorant. Alice Hines, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2022 In the movie, characters can take the blue pill to stay ignorant and blissful or swallow the red pill to see reality in all its horrors. Kat Tenbarge, NBC News, 11 Aug. 2022 See More