ignorant

• ignoraunt (obsolete)
• ignant

From Old French ignorant, from Latin ignōrāns (“unaware, unknowing”). By surface analysis, ignore +‎ -ant.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡ.nə.ɹənt/

• Audio (US):

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• (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡ.nənt/
• Hyphenation: ig‧no‧rant

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: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →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?

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^[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.

3. (slang) Ill-mannered, crude.

   His manner was at best off-hand, at worst totally ignorant.

4. (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.

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[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.

• See also Thesaurus:ignorant

ignorant (plural ignorants)

1. One who is ignorant.

• ornating

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iŋ.nuˈɾan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [iŋ.noˈɾant]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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Borrowed from Latin ignōrantem.

ignorant m or f (masculine and feminine plural ignorants)

1. ignorant

• ignorància
• ignorar

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ignorant

1. gerund of ignorar

• “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, 2026
• “ignorant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “ignorant”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪɡnorant]

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -orant

ignorant m anim (female equivalent ignorantka)

1. ignoramus, ignorant

   Synonyms: nevědomec, neználek

   Antonyms: znalec, vševěd

• “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), 2008–2026

From Latin ignōrāns (“not knowing”).

• IPA^(key): [injoˈʁɑnˀd̥], [enjoˈʁɑnˀd̥], [inoˈʁɑnˀd̥]

ignorant (plural and definite singular attributive ignorante)

1. ignorant

ignorant

ignorant c (singular definite ignoranten, plural indefinite ignoranter)

1. ignoramus

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪɣnoːˈrɑnt/

• Audio:

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ignorant (comparative ignoranter, superlative ignorantst)

1. ignorant

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	—

• IPA^(key): /i.ɲɔ.ʁɑ̃/
• Homophone: ignorants

• Audio:

  (file)

From Latin ignōrantem.

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

1. ignorant

• ignorance
• ignorer

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ignorant

1. present participle of ignorer

• “ignorant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Latin ignōrāns.

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡnɔˈʁant/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

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

1. willfully ignorant, arrogantly disinterested in knowledge

• “ignorant” in Duden online
• “ignorant”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[7] (in German)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɪŋˈnoː.rant]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [iɲˈɲɔː.rant]

ignōrant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō

ignōrant

1. third-person plural pluperfect active indicative of ignōscō

From Latin ignōrāns.

• Audio (Béarn):

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

1. ignorant

• ignoráncia
• ignorar

• IPA^(key): /iɲuˈraŋt/

ignorant

1. ignorant

• ignoransa
• ignoré

ignorant m

1. ignorant (person)

Learned borrowing from Latin ignōrantis.

• IPA^(key): /iɡˈnɔ.rant/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrant
• Syllabification: ig‧no‧rant

ignorant m pers (female equivalent ignorantka)

1. ignorant

• “ignorant”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[8] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “ignorant”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[9] (in Polish)

Borrowed from French ignorant.

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

1. ignorant

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

ignòrant m anim (Cyrillic spelling игно̀рант)

1. ignorant