ignoramus
ignoramus Lexical Profile
ignoramus Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An ignorant, unknowledgeable, or stupid person.
"Only a complete ignoramus would dismiss decades of peer-reviewed scientific research without reading a single study."
Word Nuance & Usage
Because the word originates from a Latin verb form ('we do not know') rather than a second-declension noun, its standard plural is 'ignoramuses', never 'ignorami'.
• Rhymes for ignoramus
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Directly from Latin ignoramus ('we do not know' or 'we take no notice of'), the first-person plural present indicative of ignorare ('not to know, to ignore'). Historically used in English law as a grand jury endorsement dismissing a bill of indictment for insufficient evidence, it entered everyday vocabulary as a noun for an ignorant person after George Ruggle's 1615 satirical play Ignoramus, whose title character was an incompetent lawyer.