as in benighted
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Recent Examples of unenlightened
By today’s standards, looking for a single ideal of beauty feels antiquated and unenlightened.
—
Rhonda Garelick, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2023
Both novels engage with the ways that ostensibly academic conversations, like the riverside chats that stud Brideshead or the Greek classes with Julian in The Secret History, can hold erotic subtexts whose meaning might elude the unenlightened eavesdropper.
—Jo Livingstone, The New Republic, 22 Oct. 2021
Today, many scholars dismiss the imperialist, racist logics propounded by the founders of modern international relations theory as merely reflecting the prejudices of an unenlightened era: sins not egregious enough to diminish the value of the sinners’ good works.
—Zachariah Mampilly, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
Some supporters say that opinion is culturally unenlightened, as rabbit, common in grocery stores and markets in Europe, is a traditional staple in the diets of many foreign countries, and thousands of natives of those countries now live in Connecticut.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 21 Mar. 2022
See all Example Sentences for unenlightened 
Rhonda Garelick, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2023
Both novels engage with the ways that ostensibly academic conversations, like the riverside chats that stud Brideshead or the Greek classes with Julian in The Secret History, can hold erotic subtexts whose meaning might elude the unenlightened eavesdropper.
—Jo Livingstone, The New Republic, 22 Oct. 2021
Today, many scholars dismiss the imperialist, racist logics propounded by the founders of modern international relations theory as merely reflecting the prejudices of an unenlightened era: sins not egregious enough to diminish the value of the sinners’ good works.
—Zachariah Mampilly, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
Some supporters say that opinion is culturally unenlightened, as rabbit, common in grocery stores and markets in Europe, is a traditional staple in the diets of many foreign countries, and thousands of natives of those countries now live in Connecticut.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 21 Mar. 2022
See all Example Sentences for unenlightened
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unenlightened
Adjective
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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
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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
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Too many young people are making idiotic short-term financial decisions that hamper long-term success.—
Chandler Dean,
The New Yorker,
24 Jan. 2023
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Beyond the Lungs Two other cardiac cases impressed me — and blew away the idiotic notion that young people are immune to COVID-19.—
Tony Dajer,
Discover Magazine,
30 July 2020
Adjective
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Google had to re-edit a Super Bowl ad for its artificial intelligence (AI) tool Gemini because the original ad had Gemini seeming artificially unintelligent.—
Greg Cote,
Miami Herald,
7 Feb. 2025
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Growing shares in each party describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.—
NBC News,
NBC News,
22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The majority of those who move here are uneducated and poor and nearly all become economic burdens on the U.S., either directly or indirectly.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
31 Jan. 2025
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So Americans who don't travel, who 80 percent don't have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete.—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
28 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Put simply, many Americans are woefully ignorant about the structure and features of their government.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
14 Feb. 2025
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Reading it, one is reminded, once again, that Trump is a politician who is cunning but semiliterate and ignorant.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
13 Feb. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near unenlightened
Cite this Entry
“Unenlightened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unenlightened. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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