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Synonym Chooser

How is the word ignorant distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of ignorant are illiterate, unlearned, unlettered, and untutored. While all these words mean "not having knowledge," ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing.

an ignorant fool
ignorant of nuclear physics

When could illiterate be used to replace ignorant?

Although the words illiterate and ignorant have much in common, illiterate applies to either an absolute or a relative inability to read and write.

much of the population is still illiterate

When can unlearned be used instead of ignorant?

While the synonyms unlearned and ignorant are close in meaning, unlearned suggests ignorance of advanced subjects.

poetry not for academics but for the unlearned masses

In what contexts can unlettered take the place of ignorant?

The meanings of unlettered and ignorant largely overlap; however, unlettered implies ignorance of the knowledge gained by reading.

an allusion meaningless to the unlettered

Where would untutored be a reasonable alternative to ignorant?

The words untutored and ignorant can be used in similar contexts, but untutored may imply lack of schooling in the arts and ways of civilization.

strange monuments built by an untutored people

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ignorant Musk’s blind and ignorant closing of USAID has blacked out our billboard to the world of what America is about. Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Feb. 2025 For one thing, Overstreet seemed set on portraying Black history in a way that was neither overly dour nor entirely ignorant of past violence. Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 4 Feb. 2025 But when those dishes are discovered by people ignorant of the context and untouched by the constraints that forged its use in the first place, something vital is lost. Emiene Wright, Charlotte Observer, 23 Jan. 2025 Because not only do viewers suffer through the whitest cast ever, but also one of its most politically ignorant. Melanie Curry, refinery29.com, 17 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for ignorant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ignorant
Adjective
  • Tina Siemens, a local historian in Gaines County who has assisted Edwards in the clinic, pushed back against the notion that the Mennonites in the area are uneducated about the disease or their decision not to vaccinate.
    Erika Edwards, NBC News, 10 Mar. 2025
  • Democracy dies from an uneducated, uniformed and illiterate citizenry.
    Willie Wilson, Chicago Tribune, 13 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • And on the ground in Frankfurt, local airport staff seemed — at least initially — totally unaware of the situation.
    Francesca Street, CNN, 21 Mar. 2025
  • The Trump administration's reversal of Social Security's overpayment policy could significantly strain beneficiaries who are often unaware of the overpayments.
    Shahar Ziv, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Its cap is a shriveled mass of brown folds, darker than the caramel hue of the true morel.
    Shayla Love, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Same goes for Lady Gaga and her fire-red McQueen gown, which hit all the right notes of dark romance.
    Christian Allaire, Vogue, 23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Fifty-three and childless when the foundation opened its doors, Barnes was not oblivious to the need to arrange its future beyond his lifetime.
    Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
  • Best’s dive buddy Pascal was diving underwater, oblivious to the danger.
    Don Riddell, CNN, 10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • To listen to him tell it, in English heavily accented by his native Romansh, this was a peaceful place for illiterate, yet skilled mountaineers and off-piste skiers who know far too much about avalanches.
    Jennifer Leigh Parker, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
  • But, oh my goodness, the label Aotearoa New Zealand taunts and provokes the insecure, the historically illiterate, the status-grabbing, the conceited, the dominating, and those for whom the myths and lies of the settler story are truth, are the one world worldview.
    Christine Winter, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • 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, 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
Adjective
  • His savage, untutored mind suggested no better way than that of wreaking vengeance upon those who had wronged him.
    Liz Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 21 Feb. 2025
  • To an untutored lurker, the whole thing seemed like … a frickin’ ballet, or some less dainty choreography, a headlong dance of astounding precision.
    Jody Rosen, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023
Adjective
  • Martha Stewart and Mila Kunis carried ones that looked like this simple option.
    Clint Davis, People.com, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Murena Pixel Tablet Apps Switching away from Google's flavor of Android will always result in an app gap, and there's no simple way around it.
    Ewan Spence, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Ignorant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ignorant. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.

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