ignorance

See also: Ignorance

English

Alternative forms

• ignoraunce

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.
3. Existential blindness.

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

• argument from ignorance
• ignorance is bliss
• ignorant
• ignorization
• invincible ignorance
• pluralistic ignorance
• tools of ignorance
• vincible ignorance
• willful ignorance

Translations

condition of being uninformed or uneducated

• Afrikaans: onkunde
• Albanian: injorancë (sq) f
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: جَهْل (ar) m (jahl), جَهَالَة f (jahāla)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: անգիտություն (hy) (angitutʻyun), տգիտություն (hy) (tgitutʻyun)
• Asturian: inorancia f, inoranza f
• Azerbaijani: cəhalət (az), zülmət (az), nadanlıq, avamlıq
• Belarusian: неву́цтва n (njevúctva), няве́данне n (njavjédannje)
• Breton: diouiziegez f
• Bulgarian: неве́жество (bg) n (nevéžestvo), незна́ние (bg) n (neznánie), неве́дение (bg) n (nevédenie)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: ignorància (ca) f
• Cebuano: katagaw
• Cherokee: ᎤᎧᏁᎳ (ukanela)
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無知 / 无知 (zh) (wúzhī)

• Comorian:

  Maore Comorian: ujinga class 11

  Ngazidja Comorian: udjinga class 11

• Czech: neznalost f, nevědomost f
• Danish: uvidenhed
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: onwetendheid (nl) f, ignorantie (nl) f, onkunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: nescio
• Estonian: teadmatus, asjatundmatus, võhiklikkus, ignorantsus
• Faroese: fávitska f, fákunna f
• Finnish: tietämättömyys (fi)
• French: ignorance (fr) f
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: ignorancia (gl) f
• Georgian: უვიცობა (uvicoba)
• German: Unwissenheit (de) f, Unwissen (de) n, Nichtwissen (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐍆𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 f (unfrōdei), 𐌿𐌽𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹 f (unkunþi)
• Greek: άγνοια (el) f (ágnoia)

  Ancient Greek: ἄγνοια f (ágnoia), ἀμαθία f (amathía)

• Gujarati: અજ્ઞાન (gu) n (ajñān), અવિદ્યા (avidyā)
• Hebrew: בּוּרוּת (he)
• Hindi: अज्ञान (hi) m (ajñān), अविद्या (hi) f (avidyā), बेखबरी (hi) f (bekhabrī), नासमझी (hi) f (nāsamjhī), नादानी (hi) f (nādānī), बेसमझी (hi) (besamjhī), अनभिज्ञता (hi) f (anbhijñatā)
• Hungarian: tudatlanság (hu)
• Icelandic: fáfræði f, fáviska (is) f, vanþekking f, þekkingarleysi n, fákunnátta (is) f, vankunnátta f
• Ido: nesavo (io)
• Indonesian: ketidaktahuan
• Interlingua: inscientia
• Irish: aineolas m, ainbhios m
• Italian: ignoranza (it) f
• Japanese: 無知 (ja) (muchi)
• Kannada: ಅಜ್ಞಾನ (kn) (ajñāna)
• Kazakh: надандық (nadandyq)
• Khmer: ភាពល្ងង់ខ្លៅ (pʰiep lŋʊəŋ klav)
• Korean: 무지 (ko) (muji)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نەزانی (nezanî)

  Northern Kurdish: nezanî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: билбестик (ky) (bilbestik)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: ignorantia
• Latvian: nezināšana f
• Lithuanian: nežinojimas m
• Lun Bawang: falung
• Macedonian: незнаење n (neznaenje)
• Malagasy: tsifahalalana (mg)
• Malayalam: അജ്ഞത (ml) (ajñata), വിവരക്കേട് (vivarakkēṭŭ)
• Manx: neufys m, neuhoiggaltys m
• Māori: kūaretanga
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uvitenhet (no) m or f

• Occitan: ignorància (oc) f
• Odia: ଅଜ୍ଞତା (ajñatā)
• Old English: nytennes f
• Oromo: wallaalummaa
• Persian: جهل (fa) (jahl), جهالت (fa) (jehâlat), نادانی (fa) (nâdâni)
• Polish: ignorancja (pl) f, niewiedza (pl) f, nieuctwo n, nieznajomość f, nieświadomość (pl) f
• Portuguese: ignorância (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਬੇਖ਼ਬਰ (bexbar), ਬੇਸਮਝ (besmajh), ਨਦਾਨ (nadān), ਅਣਜਾਣ (pa) (aṇajāṇ), ਅਗਿਆਨ (pa) (agiāna)
• Romanian: ignoranță (ro) f
• Russian: неве́жество (ru) n (nevéžestvo), неве́дение (ru) n (nevédenije), незна́ние (ru) n (neznánije), неосведомлённость (ru) f (neosvedomljónnostʹ)
• Sami:

  Inari Sami: tietimettumvuotâ

  Northern Sami: diehtemeahttunvuohta

  Skolt Sami: tieʹđǩanivuõtt

• Sanskrit: अज्ञान (sa) n (ajñāna), अविद्या (sa) f (avidyā)
• Scottish Gaelic: ainfhios m, ainfhiosrachd f, aineolas f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: незнање n

  Latin: neznanje (sh) n

• Sicilian: gnuranza f
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: neznalosť f, nevedomosť f
• Slovene: nevednost f
• Spanish: ignorancia (es) f
• Swahili: ujinga (sw) class 11
• Swedish: okunnighet (sv) c, ignorans (sv), okunskap (sv) c
• Tagalog: kamangmangan, ignoransiya
• Tamil: அறியாமை (ta) (aṟiyāmai)
• Telugu: నేరమి (te) (nērami), అజ్ఞానం (te) (ajñānaṁ), అజ్ఞానము (te) (ajñānamu)
• Thai: ความไม่รู้ (kwaam mâi róo)
• Turkish: cehalet (tr), bilgisizlik (tr)
• Ukrainian: неві́гластво n (nevíhlastvo), неу́цтво n (neúctvo), незнання́ n (neznannjá)
• Urdu: اگیان m (agyān)
• Vietnamese: sự thiếu hiểu biết, sự dốt nát
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: anwybodaeth m or f
• Yiddish: אומוויסנהײַט f (umvisnhayt)

Anagrams

• ear coning, enorganic, garcinone

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

• “ignorance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• rencognai

Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ignōrantia.

Noun

ignorance oblique singular, f (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

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “ignorance”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.