Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being ignorant; want of knowledge in general, or concerning some particular matter; the condition of not being cognizant, informed, or aware.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The condition of being ignorant; the lack of knowledge in general, or in relation to a particular subject; the state of being uneducated or uninformed.
  • noun (Theol.) A willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge which one may acquire and it is his duty to have.
  • noun (Theol.) ignorance beyond the individual's control and for which, therefore, he is not responsible before God.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The condition of being uninformed or uneducated. Lack of knowledge or information.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the lack of knowledge or education

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French ignorance. This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

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Examples

  • There is an ignorance that is sought on purpose, called _affected ignorance_ (in the Shakspearian sense of the word _affect_), as when a man will not read begging-letters, that he may not give anything away.

    Moral Philosophy Joseph Rickaby 1888

  • With regard to life's origin ignorance is depicted as a gap which will eventaully be overcome with evidence backing mainstream conceptions - the promissory note.

    Another Version of CSI 2008

  • He uses the term ignorance to include not only factual ignorance but also philosophical confusion, and ignorance about what kinds of things are good.

    Shameless Self-promotion Sunday #18 2008

  • As for me personally, I think conservatives living in ignorance is pretty damn funny – so I would never try to change your mind.

    Think Progress » Tony Snow Attacks President Carter 2006

  • The arrogance of the use of the term ignorance here, requires no animadversion; but to suppose the greatest master, then in existence, of the English language, not acquainted with the meaning of the word, when he asked to be informed of the meaning attached to it by the individual making use of it, gives us some insight into the true character of the teacher.

    The Life of Lord Byron Galt, John, 1779-1839 1830

  • Here the term ignorance implies that the underlying details of how an object can be persisted are

    CodeGuru.com 2010

  • Thats not true, typically stress is caused becasue you DO understand, hence the term ignorance is bliss.

    unknown title 2009

  • Thats not true, typically stress is caused becasue you DO understand, hence the term ignorance is bliss.

    unknown title 2009

  • Thats not true, typically stress is caused becasue you DO understand, hence the term ignorance is bliss.

    unknown title 2009

  • Thats not true, typically stress is caused becasue you DO understand, hence the term ignorance is bliss.

    unknown title 2009

  • This phenomenon, where people think widespread views are minority ones and vice versa, is called pluralistic ignorance.

    How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal? Ed Yong 2022

Comments

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  • which means that to ignore anything makes you ignorant.

    September 18, 2007