ignorance

See also: Ignorance

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English ignoraunce, ignorance, from From Old French ignorance, from Latin ignōrantia. By surface analysis, ignor(e) +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭg'nərəns, IPA(key): /ˈɪɡ.nə.ɹəns/
  • (General American) enPR: ĭg'nərəns, IPA(key): /ˈɪɡ.nɚ.əns/
    • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

ignorance (countable and uncountable, plural ignorances)

  1. The condition of being uninformed or uneducated; lack of knowledge or information.
    Synonyms: blindness, cluelessness, knowledgelessness, unawareness, unknowingness, unknowledge
    She shows total ignorance about the topic at hand.
    • 1956 September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, in Railway Magazine, page 638:
      The guard was paying no attention whatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards.
    • 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 156:
      There had been the whisky and Perrier in the morning but, in my ignorance of alcoholics then, I could not imagine one whisky harming anyone who was driving in an open car in the rain.
  2. (religion, in the plural) Sins committed through ignorance.

Usage notes

  • In Roman Catholic theology, vincible or wilful ignorance is such as one might be fairly expected to overcome, hence it can never be an excuse for sin, whether of omission or of commission; while invincible ignorance, which a person cannot help or abate, altogether excuses from guilt.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ignorance, borrowed from Latin ignōrantia.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /i.ɲɔ.ʁɑ̃s/
  • Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

ignorance f (plural ignorances)

  1. ignorance
    • 1772, Paul-Henri Thiry (baron d') Holbach, Le Bon-Sens, ou, Idées Naturelles Opposées aux Idées Surnaturelles[1], London: Marc-Michel Rey, →LCCN, →OL, §30, page 22:
      Tous les enfans ſont des athées; ils n'ont aucune idée de Dieu: ſont-ils donc criminels à cauſe de cette ignorance?
      All children are born atheists; they have no idea of God. Are they then criminal on account of their ignorance?

Further reading

Anagrams

Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ignōrantia.

Noun

ignorance oblique singularf (oblique plural ignorances, nominative singular ignorance, nominative plural ignorances)

  1. ignorance (lacking of knowledge; lack of understanding)
  2. something that one is ignorant of

Descendants

  • English: ignorance
  • French: ignorance

References