benighted

adjective

be·​night·​ed bi-ˈnī-təd 

bē-

1

: overtaken by darkness or night

Benighted travellers … have seen his midnight candle glimmering.

—W. B. Yeats

2

: existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness : unenlightened

spreading their message among these poor benighted people

a strange, benighted country

benightedly adverb

benightedness noun

Synonyms

• analphabetic
• dark
• ignorant
• illiterate
• nonliterate
• rude
• simple
• uneducated
• uninstructed
• unlearned
• unlettered
• unread
• unschooled
• untaught
• untutored

Examples of benighted in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

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

Those deaths might be understood as products of an earlier, benighted time, when the average Nigerian knew far less about genetic testing and disease management. —Carolyn Wells, Longreads, 4 Jan. 2024

Under the guise of morality, benighted political interests are being advanced. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

benighted

adjective

be·​night·​ed bi-ˈnīt-əd 

: ignorant sense 1, 2