Ignorant vs Impertinent - What's the difference?
ignorant | impertinent |
Unknowledgeable or uneducated; characterized by ignorance.
* Tillotson
* Dryden
(slang) Ill-mannered, crude.
(obsolete) unknown; undiscovered
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
Resulting from ignorance; foolish; silly.
* Shakespeare
insolent, ill-mannered
* Tillotson
* Jeremy Taylor
irrelevant (opposite of pertinent)
An impertinent individual.
* (Maria Edgeworth)
As adjectives the difference between ignorant and impertinent
is that ignorant is unknowledgeable or uneducated; characterized by ignorance while impertinent is insolent, ill-mannered.As a noun impertinent is
an impertinent individual.ignorant
English
Alternative forms
* ignoraunt (obsolete)Adjective
(en-adj)- He that doth not know those things which are of use for him to know, is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides.
- Ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame.
- His manner was at best off-hand, at worst totally ignorant .
- ignorant concealment
- Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
- His shipping, / Poor ignorant baubles! — on our terrible seas, / Like eggshells moved.
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* ignorantlyimpertinent
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- things that are impertinent to us
- How impertinent that grief was which served no end!
Usage notes
Although, historically, definition 2 was the original (derived from the French below) usage; meaning gradually changed to definition 1. More recently general usage has come to, once again, incorporate definition 2. As many older speakers will consider definition 2 incorrect, avoiding the word altogether may be advisable. The construction "not pertinent" is one possible alternative.Synonyms
* See alsoNoun
(en noun)- comfortably recessed from curious impertinents
