Benighted
adjective
Someone who is uneducated about certain things or is unaware of important facts.
The benighted individuals had no idea what was happening in the world beyond their village.
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Used to describe a state of being involved in darkness.
The hikers got benighted on the mountain and had to spend the night there.
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Someone who is uneducated about certain things or is unaware of important facts.
The benighted individuals had no idea what was happening in the world beyond their village.
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Used to describe a state of being involved in darkness.
The hikers got benighted on the mountain and had to spend the night there.
Usage tips
Formal
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Implies a critical view of someone's lack of knowledge or awareness.
In his speech, the leader described his opponents as benighted and out of touch.
Pro Tip 2/3Implicit Judgment
Using 'benighted' suggests the speaker feels superior in knowledge.
She referred to the villagers as benighted, ignoring their rich cultural knowledge.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Usage
It can imply backwardness, as if stuck in a 'dark age' of knowledge.
The professor remarked on the benighted practices of medieval medicine.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Implies a critical view of someone's lack of knowledge or awareness.
In his speech, the leader described his opponents as benighted and out of touch.
Pro Tip 2/3Implicit Judgment
Using 'benighted' suggests the speaker feels superior in knowledge.
She referred to the villagers as benighted, ignoring their rich cultural knowledge.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Usage
It can imply backwardness, as if stuck in a 'dark age' of knowledge.
The professor remarked on the benighted practices of medieval medicine.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Implies a critical view of someone's lack of knowledge or awareness.
In his speech, the leader described his opponents as benighted and out of touch.
Pro Tip 2/3Implicit Judgment
Using 'benighted' suggests the speaker feels superior in knowledge.
She referred to the villagers as benighted, ignoring their rich cultural knowledge.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Usage
It can imply backwardness, as if stuck in a 'dark age' of knowledge.
The professor remarked on the benighted practices of medieval medicine.
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Quote examples
Edgar Bronfman, Sr.
Canadian Businessman
During my many years in international business and public life, I have had the good fortune of sitting down for lunch with people with whom I completely disagreed, in practice and principle: Soviet communists, heads of state from various unsavory regimes, benighted religious figures, corrupt business leaders.
Quote examples
Henry Louis Gates
American Critic
It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art.
Quote examples
William S. Burroughs
American Writer
Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered.
Quote examples
James McGreevey
American Politician
Inauthenticity is endemic in American politics today. The political backrooms where I spent much of my career were just as benighted as my personal life, equally crowded with shadowy strangers and compromises, truths I hoped to deny. I lived not in one closet but in many.
Quote examples
James Buchan
British Novelist
Europe and North America, we are told, are less dependent on energy-intensive heavy industry than in the 1960s and 1970s. It seems we squeeze more GDP out of a barrel of oil than in those benighted days.
Quote examples
Marcel Proust
French Author
The paradoxes of today are the prejudices of tomorrow, since the most benighted and the most deplorable prejudices have had their moment of novelty when fashion lent them its fragile grace.
Quote examples
Will Self
English Author
In our benighted age, when films about amusement park rides and electronic fidgets scoop the honours, perhaps Hollywood redux is the best we can hope for.
Quote examples
Eli Yishai
Israeli Politician
I sound like a racist, a benighted man or a xenophobe, but I'm motivated by love for my country and the knowledge that I don't have another country.
Quote examples
Edgar Bronfman, Sr.
Canadian Businessman
During my many years in international business and public life, I have had the good fortune of sitting down for lunch with people with whom I completely disagreed, in practice and principle: Soviet communists, heads of state from various unsavory regimes, benighted religious figures, corrupt business leaders.
Quote examples
Henry Louis Gates
American Critic
It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art.
Quote examples
William S. Burroughs
American Writer
Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered.
Quote examples
James McGreevey
American Politician
Inauthenticity is endemic in American politics today. The political backrooms where I spent much of my career were just as benighted as my personal life, equally crowded with shadowy strangers and compromises, truths I hoped to deny. I lived not in one closet but in many.
Quote examples
James Buchan
British Novelist
Europe and North America, we are told, are less dependent on energy-intensive heavy industry than in the 1960s and 1970s. It seems we squeeze more GDP out of a barrel of oil than in those benighted days.
Quote examples
Marcel Proust
French Author
The paradoxes of today are the prejudices of tomorrow, since the most benighted and the most deplorable prejudices have had their moment of novelty when fashion lent them its fragile grace.
Quote examples
Will Self
English Author
In our benighted age, when films about amusement park rides and electronic fidgets scoop the honours, perhaps Hollywood redux is the best we can hope for.
Quote examples
Eli Yishai
Israeli Politician
I sound like a racist, a benighted man or a xenophobe, but I'm motivated by love for my country and the knowledge that I don't have another country.
Example 1 of 8
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