Synonyms of benighted

benighted

adjective

bi-ˈnī-təd 

as in ignorant

lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books

the poor benighted souls who do not know the joys of reading

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignorant
• dark
• uneducated
• untutored
• inexperienced
• untaught
• illiterate
• unschooled
• uninstructed
• unlearned
• nonliterate
• unlettered
• simple
• innocent
• unread
• naive
• rude
• foolish
• naïve
• uncultured
• semiliterate
• analphabetic
• unknowledgeable
• unsophisticated
• stupid
• idiotic
• dumb
• uncultivated
• functionally illiterate
• artless
• callow
• lowbrow
• green
• moronic
• imbecile
• imbecilic
• unskilled
• innumerate
• witless
• untrained
• silly
• philistine
• brainless
• idiotical
• senseless
• raw

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• literate
• educated
• brilliant
• knowledgeable
• intelligent
• experienced
• smart
• expert
• lettered
• intellectual
• well-informed
• erudite
• trained
• well-read
• learned
• schooled
• scholarly
• familiar
• cultured
• sophisticated
• cultivated
• aware
• acquainted
• highbrow
• polymathic
• polymath
• polyhistoric

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of benighted

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

And, of course, speedily deport those who misbehave. — George W. Price, Chicago Our benighted states The only renaming of place that is called for in this age of Donald Trump is the United States of America. —Chicago Tribune, 3 Feb. 2025

And this is just a small sampling of the kind of far-right legal reasoning that routinely escapes this benighted court. —Ian Millhiser, Vox, 25 Sep. 2024

In its 50th anniversary year, the storied fantasy role-playing game is now making a long-overdue, and noteworthy, correction to its scientifically benighted treatment of race. —Steven Dashiell, Scientific American, 31 July 2024