ignoramus

• enPR: ĭg′nə-rā′məs
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹeɪ.məs/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹæɪ.məs/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌəɡ.nəˈɹæɪ.məs/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹe.məs/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˌiɡ.noˈɾeː.mus/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪməs

After the ignorant lawyer Ignoramus, the titular character in the 1615 play Ignoramus by the English playwright George Ruggle; from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know, we are unacquainted with, we are ignorant of”), the first-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō (“I do not know, I am unacquainted with, I am ignorant of”).

• ignoramous (nonstandard)

ignoramus (plural ignoramuses or (hypercorrect) ignorami)

2. A totally ignorant person—unknowledgeable, uneducated, or uninformed; a fool.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ignoramus

   • 2012 May 31, Clyde Haberman, quoting George F. Will, “Trying to Solve the Great Trump Mystery”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 June 2024:

     “The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me,” he said on “This Week,” the ABC News program.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “I am sorry to say your History teacher is an ignoramus! She can’t even spell ‘Bayeux’!”

The hypercorrect plural form ignorami is seen by most as humorous and nonstandard, as the word derives from a Latin verb, not from a noun.

Directly from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know”).

ignoramus (plural ignoramuses)

1. (law, dated) A grand jury's ruling on an indictment when the evidence is determined to be insufficient to send the case to trial.

ignoramus (third-person singular simple present ignoramuses, present participle ignoramusing, simple past and past participle ignoramused)

1. (law, transitive) To make such a ruling against (an indictment).

• graminous, origanums

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɪŋ.noːˈraː.mʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [iɲ.ɲoˈraː.mus]
• Hyphenation: ig‧nō‧rā‧mus

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ignōrāmus

1. first-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ignōrāmus

1. first-person plural pluperfect active indicative of ignōscō