benighted

[ bih-nahy-tid ]

adjective

1. intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened:

   benighted ages of barbarism and superstition.

   Synonyms: uncultivated, crude, primitive, backward

2. overtaken by darkness or night.

benighted

/ bɪˈnaɪtɪd /

adjective

1. lacking cultural, moral, or intellectual enlightenment; ignorant
2. archaic.
   overtaken by night

Derived Forms

• beˈnightedness, noun
• beˈnightedly, adverb

Other Words From

• be·nighted·ly adverb
• be·nighted·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of benighted¹

First recorded in 1565–75; be- + night + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Under the guise of morality, benighted political interests are being advanced.

From Los Angeles Times

Fauci had already received death threats from members of this benighted group, resulting in the government placing him under the protection of armed federal agents.

From Los Angeles Times

The reference is to that benighted state’s surprising success in improving reading scores for its fourth-graders through a focused program of literacy instruction for teachers and pupils alike.

From Los Angeles Times

But his loyal idiots, those benighted Americans who continue to worship him, have not given up.

From Salon

Banham’s revolutionary study has aged both well and badly; his sense of the liberatory aspect of the freeways, for instance, now seems both sentimental and benighted.

From Los Angeles Times