See also: Ignorance

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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.
  2. (religion, in the plural) Sins committed through ignorance.

Usage notes

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  • 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

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Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French ignorance, borrowed from Latin ignōrantia.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Anagrams

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Old French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin ignōrantia.

Noun

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ignorance oblique singularf (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

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  • English: ignorance
  • French: ignorance

References

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  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (ignorance, supplement)