ignorance

See also: Ignorance

English

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Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English ignoraunce, ignorance, from Old French ignorance, from Latin ignōrantia. By surface analysis, ignore + -ance.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ĭg'nərəns, IPA(key): /ˈɪɡnəɹəns/
  • (file)

Noun

ignorance (countable and uncountable, plural ignorances)

  1. The condition of being uninformed or uneducated; lack of knowledge or information.
    • 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, p. 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.
    Synonyms: blindness, cluelessness, knowledgelessness, unawareness, unknowingness, unknowledge
    She shows total ignorance about the topic at hand.
  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

Further reading

Anagrams


Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ignōrantia.

Noun

ignorance 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

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