Ig'no-rant1, a.
a. [Lat. ignorans, p. pr. of ignorare; Fr. ignorant, Pr. ignoran, Sp., Pg., & It. ignorante. See IGNORE.]
Sense 1. Destitute of knowledge; uninstructed or uninformed; untaught; unenlightened.
Sense 2. Unacquainted; unconscious; unaware.
Ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame. Dryden.
Sense 3. Unknown; undiscovered. [Obs.] “Ignorant concealment.” Shak.
Sense 4. Displaying ignorance; resulting from ignorance; done or made without knowledge.
His shipping, Poor ignorant baubles, on our terrible seas, Like egg-shells moved. Shak.
Synonyms—Uninstructed; untaught; unenlightened; uninformed; unlearned; unlettered; illiterate.—IGNORANT, ILLITERATE. Ignorant denotes want of knowledge, either as to a single subject or information in general; illiterate refers to an ignorance of letters, or of knowledge acquired by reading and study. In the middle ages, a great proportion of the higher classes were illiterate, and yet were far from being ignorant, especially in regard to war and other active pursuits.
In such business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant More learned than the ears. Shak.
In the first ages of Christianity, not only the learned and the wise, but the ignorant and illiterate, embraced torments and death. Tillotson.