as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
the poor benighted souls who do not know the joys of reading
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Recent Examples of benighted
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
Afterward, the northern Sayyids were scorned as relics of a benighted theocratic era, and many fell into poverty.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2024
There may be a touch of Cloud Atlas-style dystopian condescension in the notion of bringing AI to the benighted continent of Europe.
—Peter Vanham, Fortune Europe, 13 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for benighted
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
Afterward, the northern Sayyids were scorned as relics of a benighted theocratic era, and many fell into poverty.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2024
There may be a touch of Cloud Atlas-style dystopian condescension in the notion of bringing AI to the benighted continent of Europe.
—Peter Vanham, Fortune Europe, 13 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for benighted
Cite this Entry
“Benighted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/benighted. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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