ignorant
English
Alternative forms
- ignoraunt (obsolete)
- ignant
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)
- 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[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton, […]; J. Round […], and J[acob] 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[1], 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?
- 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[2], 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,[3]
- […] 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[4], 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.
- (slang) Ill-mannered, crude.
- His manner was at best off-hand, at worst totally ignorant.
- (obsolete) unknown; undiscovered
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- […] I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
Thereof to be inform’d, imprison't not
In ignorant concealment.
- 1845, Robert Browning, letter addressed to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, cited in Percy Lubbock, Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Her Letters, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906, Chapter 4, p. 106,[5]
- […] as to you, your goodness and understanding will always see to the bottom of involuntary or ignorant faults—always help me to correct them.
- 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- […] 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[6], 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
- See also Thesaurus:ignorant
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Noun
ignorant (plural ignorants)
- One who is ignorant.
Anagrams
Catalan
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin ignōrantem.
Adjective
ignorant m or f (masculine and feminine plural ignorants)
Related terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
ignorant
- gerund of ignorar
Further reading
- “ignorant”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “ignorant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
- “ignorant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “ignorant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈɪɡnorant]
- Rhymes: -orant
Noun
ignorant m anim (female equivalent ignorantka)
Declension
Related terms
- ignorantský
- ignorantsky
- ignorantství
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 Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025
Danish
Etymology
From Latin ignōrāns (“not knowing”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [injoˈʁɑnˀd̥], [enjoˈʁɑnˀd̥], [inoˈʁɑnˀd̥]
Adjective
ignorant (plural and definite singular attributive ignorante)
Inflection
ignorant
Noun
ignorant c (singular definite ignoranten, plural indefinite ignoranter)
Inflection
common gender |
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | ignorant | ignoranten | ignoranter | ignoranterne |
genitive | ignorants | ignorantens | ignoranters | ignoranternes |
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌɪɣnoːˈrɑnt/
Audio: (file)
Adjective
ignorant (comparative ignoranter, superlative ignorantst)
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
- IPA(key): /i.ɲɔ.ʁɑ̃/
- Homophone: ignorants
Audio: (file)
Etymology 1
From Latin ignōrantem.
Adjective
ignorant (feminine ignorante, masculine plural ignorants, feminine plural ignorantes)
Related terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Participle
ignorant
- present participle of ignorer
Further reading
- “ignorant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪɡnɔˈʁant/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ant
Adjective
ignorant (strong nominative masculine singular ignoranter, comparative ignoranter, superlative am ignorantesten)
Declension
Related terms
Further reading
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ɪŋˈnoː.rant]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [iɲˈɲɔː.ran̪t̪]
Etymology 1
Verb
ignōrant
- third-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō
Etymology 2
Verb
ignōrant
- third-person plural pluperfect active indicative of ignōscō
Occitan
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Adjective
ignorant m (feminine singular ignoranta, masculine plural ignorants, feminine plural ignorantas)
Related terms
- ignoráncia
- ignorar
Piedmontese
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /iɲuˈraŋt/
Adjective
ignorant
Related terms
- ignoransa
- ignoré
Noun
ignorant m
- 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)
Declension
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | ignorant | ignoranci/ignoranty (deprecative) |
genitive | ignoranta | ignorantów |
dative | ignorantowi | ignorantom |
accusative | ignoranta | ignorantów |
instrumental | ignorantem | ignorantami |
locative | ignorancie | ignorantach |
vocative | ignorancie | ignoranci |
Derived terms
Related terms
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)
Declension
singular | plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
nominative- accusative |
indefinite | ignorant | ignorantă | ignoranți | ignorante | |||
definite | ignorantul | ignoranta | ignoranții | ignorantele | ||||
genitive- dative |
indefinite | ignorant | ignorante | ignoranți | ignorante | |||
definite | ignorantului | ignorantei | ignoranților | ignorantelor |
Serbo-Croatian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /iɡnǒrant/
- Hyphenation: ig‧no‧rant
Noun
ignòrant m anim (Cyrillic spelling игно̀рант)