ignoramus

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡnəˈɹeɪməs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪməs

After the ignorant lawyer Ignoramus, the titular character in the 1615 play Ignoramus by the English playwright Georges Ruggle; from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know, 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”).

• ignoramous (nonstandard)

ignoramus (plural ignoramuses or ignorami)

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ignoramus

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “I am sorry to say your History teacher is an ignoramus! She can’t even spell ‘Bayeux’!”

The hyper-correct plural form ignorami is seen by most as humorous and non-standard, as the word derives from a Latin verb, not from a noun.

Directly from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know”).

ignoramus (plural ignoramuses)

1. (law, dated) A grand jury's ruling on an indictment when the evidence is determined to be insufficient to send the case to trial.

ignoramus (third-person singular simple present ignoramuses, present participle ignoramusing, simple past and past participle ignoramused)

1. (law, transitive) To make such a ruling against (an indictment).

• graminous, origanums

ignōrāmus

1. first-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō

ignōrāmus

1. first-person plural pluperfect active indicative of ignōscō