ignoramus

Definition

A totally ignorant person—unknowledgeable, uneducated, or uninformed; a fool.

Etymology

After the ignorant lawyer Ignoramus, the titular character in the 1615 play Ignoramus by the English playwright George Ruggle; from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know, we are unacquainted with, we are ignorant of”), the first-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō (“I do not know, I am unacquainted with, I am ignorant of”).

Example Sentences

• "The problem is that visual ignoramuses, such as this writer, can't think of that many pictures and end up drawing question marks where a frog should be."
• "“The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me,” he said on “This Week,” the ABC News program."
• "“I am sorry to say your History teacher is an ignoramus! She can’t even spell ‘Bayeux’!”"

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