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
-
He’s introduced it to diners in formerly benighted, hash-less regions, including Texas.—
Robert F. Moss,
Southern Living,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Repeal the benighted Jones Act, which raises energy and shipping costs.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Think of the costs of an idiotic war that could have covered universal child care and college tuitions.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
6 May 2026
-
The biggest is Theroux’s overly tanned and idiotic tech billionaire Benji Barnes, who is dating Emily (Emily Blunt) after recently divorcing his cool wife Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu) and leaving her with billions.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
Adjective
-
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,
Twin Cities,
5 Mar. 2026
-
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
Adjective
-
Regrettably, their students are chronically uneducated.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Quit dismissing them as uneducated.—
Ashley Hume,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
But even for someone like myself, totally ignorant to the lore and not really seeking to change that, the Star Wars universe can look genuinely interesting, and some games every now and then manage to tap into that potential.—
Adam Ismail,
The Drive,
30 Apr. 2026
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Jahmil Eady – Freaky As gentrifiers take over her neighborhood, a Gullah Geechee woman, Annabelle (Melanie Nicholls-King) calls on ancestral knowledge, which has dire consequences for the newcomers who have begun to take over the land, ignorant of its history.—
Richard Newby,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
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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Does that kind of discourse-friendly success override the fact that Euphoria is too young, too scummy, and too dumb to fit into the usual Emmy pattern?—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
2 May 2026
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And that’s where things somehow got even dumber After being questioned by security, Beyer reportedly gave a fake name, which prompted them to call police.—
Amber Harding OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unenlightened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unenlightened. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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