Synonyms of benighted

benighted

adjective

bi-ˈnī-təd 

as in ignorant

lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books

the poor benighted souls who do not know the joys of reading

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignorant
• dark
• uneducated
• untutored
• inexperienced
• untaught
• illiterate
• unschooled
• uninstructed
• unlearned
• nonliterate
• unlettered
• simple
• innocent
• unread
• naive
• rude
• foolish
• naïve
• uncultured
• semiliterate
• analphabetic
• unknowledgeable
• unsophisticated
• stupid
• idiotic
• uncultivated
• functionally illiterate
• artless
• callow
• dumb
• lowbrow
• green
• moronic
• imbecile
• imbecilic
• unskilled
• innumerate
• witless
• untrained
• silly
• philistine
• brainless
• idiotical
• senseless
• raw

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• literate
• educated
• brilliant
• knowledgeable
• intelligent
• experienced
• smart
• expert
• lettered
• intellectual
• well-informed
• erudite
• trained
• well-read
• learned
• schooled
• scholarly
• familiar
• cultured
• sophisticated
• cultivated
• aware
• acquainted
• highbrow
• polymathic
• polymath
• polyhistoric

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of benighted

And this is just a small sampling of the kind of far-right legal reasoning that routinely escapes this benighted court. —Ian Millhiser, Vox, 25 Sep. 2024

In its 50th anniversary year, the storied fantasy role-playing game is now making a long-overdue, and noteworthy, correction to its scientifically benighted treatment of race. —Steven Dashiell, Scientific American, 31 July 2024

Israel is the only bastion in this benighted region preventing Iran from taking control through its terrorist proxies. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 27 July 2024

Many critics judge Elvis’s refusal to abandon a rural, working-class culture as backward and benighted, tempering his artistic success. —Michael T. Bertrand, The Conversation, 5 June 2024