as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
the poor benighted souls who do not know the joys of reading
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Recent Examples of benighted
Trump has talked up the idea of moving the Palestinians out of Gaza, even suggesting transforming one of the most benighted places on earth into some kind of coastal resort.
—
Niall Stanage, The Hill, 3 Aug. 2025
Antony and Cleopatra’s benighted love story plays out against the surge of Roman power, and Caesar, sung with biting clarity by Paul Appleby, comes off as a modern Duce.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 13 May 2025
That said, the inclusion of out-of-home impressions to the national TV sample in autumn 2020 and the subsequent expansion of Nielsen’s OOH measurement have helped the NCAA’s media partners claw back a good deal of deliveries that would have been otherwise ignored in a more benighted era.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 Mar. 2025
In that benighted era, smart and beautiful women like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Judy Holliday were perennially cast in jiggle roles: empty headed, screen-filling eye candy.
—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for benighted
Niall Stanage, The Hill, 3 Aug. 2025
Antony and Cleopatra’s benighted love story plays out against the surge of Roman power, and Caesar, sung with biting clarity by Paul Appleby, comes off as a modern Duce.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 13 May 2025
That said, the inclusion of out-of-home impressions to the national TV sample in autumn 2020 and the subsequent expansion of Nielsen’s OOH measurement have helped the NCAA’s media partners claw back a good deal of deliveries that would have been otherwise ignored in a more benighted era.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 Mar. 2025
In that benighted era, smart and beautiful women like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Judy Holliday were perennially cast in jiggle roles: empty headed, screen-filling eye candy.
—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for benighted
Recent Examples of Synonyms for benighted
ignorant
Adjective
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But criticism quickly began to pile in on Chinese social media, where users denounced the advertising stunt as ignorant of the potential environmental impacts in a remote and pristine ecosystem.—
Chris Lau,
CNN Money,
22 Sep. 2025
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The fact that multiple guests were ignorant of the CCP’s control over CGTN shows that booking agents working for the network may have failed to disclose such information.—
Robert Schmad,
The Washington Examiner,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Benighted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/benighted. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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