know-nothing

[ noh-nuhth-ing ]

noun

1. an ignorant or totally uninformed person; ignoramus.
2. an agnostic.
3. (initial capital letters) U.S. History. a member of a political party American party, or Know-Noth·ing party prominent from 1853 to 1856, whose aim was to keep control of the government in the hands of native-born citizens: so called because members originally professed ignorance of the party's activities.
4. a person whose anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, and other political attitudes recall the Know-Nothings.

adjective

1. grossly ignorant; totally uninformed.
2. agnostic.
3. (initial capital letters) of or relating to the Know-Nothings.
4. of or relating to a political know-nothing.

know-nothing

noun

1. informal.
   an ignorant person

Other Words From

• know-nothing·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of know-nothing¹

First recorded in 1815–25; 1850–55 know-nothing fordefs 3, 7

Example Sentences

Were his opponents know-nothing babies?

From Literature

Democrats, Republicans, members of the Unionist and Know-Nothing parties.

From Los Angeles Times

Four years later, he ran for president with the Know-Nothing Party but lost every state except Maryland.

From Seattle Times

Know-nothing members of Congress insist that they are sick and tired of the separation of church and state mandated by the First Amendment.

From Salon

It's a common tendency among the segment of the left to which West belongs, one that Kazakhstan-born Pitzer College sociology professor Azamat Junisbai attributes to ignorance and a myopic, know-nothing focus on American imperialism to the exclusion of imperialism by other nations.

From Salon