as in benighted
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Recent Examples of unenlightened
Instead of transitioning these communities into new industries or providing them with the tools to adapt, our legislators have chosen to obscure coal and its workers, treating them as relics of a bygone, unenlightened and even primitive era.
—
Daniel A.c. McBride, Baltimore Sun, 1 June 2025
Dirty work is often assumed to be unenlightened work, but wildland firefighters have a unique empirical understanding of natural forces.
—M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Some are downright funky in their retro prejudices, others more quaintly unenlightened.
—Lauren Bravo, refinery29.com, 3 Jan. 2024
Wilson, therefore, was not introducing the ideas of world order and human rights to a collection of previously anarchic states and unenlightened polities.
—Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2020
See All Example Sentences for unenlightened
Daniel A.c. McBride, Baltimore Sun, 1 June 2025
Dirty work is often assumed to be unenlightened work, but wildland firefighters have a unique empirical understanding of natural forces.
—M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Some are downright funky in their retro prejudices, others more quaintly unenlightened.
—Lauren Bravo, refinery29.com, 3 Jan. 2024
Wilson, therefore, was not introducing the ideas of world order and human rights to a collection of previously anarchic states and unenlightened polities.
—Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2020
See All Example Sentences for unenlightened
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unenlightened
Adjective
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If or when the elephants die, our own benighted species will surely not be far behind.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
27 Feb. 2026
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Even with Dibble effortlessly laying waste to every point and argument made by his benighted co-guest, Joe Rogan remained unconvinced.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
1 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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We were just stunned by my idiotic behavior, but that idea that of the constancy was suddenly were wiped.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
2 Mar. 2026
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Anything else would be idiotic.—
Josh Yohe,
New York Times,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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More and more people are avoiding dating or befriending those with opposing political views, and growing numbers describe those on the other side as closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent.—
Justin Callais,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Mar. 2026
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Still, Hassett called the report biased and unintelligent.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Obama just went about his job and didn’t send untrained, uneducated wannabe stormtroopers into cities to intimidate people with tremendous shows of force.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
3 Feb. 2026
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Additionally, data released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics in September revealed that nearly half of the country’s youth population, aged 18 to 30, is unemployed, uneducated, or lacking training.—
Nimi Princewill,
CNN Money,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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To dismiss animism as ignorant, superstitious, or atavistic is to partake in modern parochialism, and this serves the interests of those who, like the tree’s killers, delight in destroying life.—
Colin Cepuran,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Feb. 2026
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Still, Amodei warns, many people remain ignorant about the reality of AI’s revolutionary capabilities.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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His moronic tariffs continue to blow up in his face, spiking inflation and getting zero concessions from China.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Feb. 2026
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In the annals of moronic behavior, driving forty minutes out of your way in the middle of the night in order to secretly and skillfully cut down everybody’s favorite tree does not come up.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Telling the story this way elides, smooths over, and underestimates the role of circumstance and dumb luck.—
Charles Yu,
The Atlantic,
5 Mar. 2026
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Advertisement This strategy was tried in the dumb-bomb era.—
Richard Hall,
Time,
3 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unenlightened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unenlightened. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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