Ignorance

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ignorance \Ig"no*rance\, n. [F., fr. L. ignorantia.]
     1. The condition of being ignorant; the lack of knowledge in
        general, or in relation to a particular subject; the state
        of being uneducated or uninformed.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Ignorance is the curse of God,
              Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Theol.) A willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge
        which one may acquire and it is his duty to have. --Book
        of Common Prayer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Invincible ignorance} (Theol.), ignorance beyond the
        individual's control and for which, therefore, he is not
        responsible before God.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ignorance
       n : the lack of knowledge or education

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  60 Moby Thesaurus words for "ignorance":
     Urdummheit, amateurishness, amateurism, benightedness,
     brainlessness, callowness, disaccustomedness, empty-headedness,
     foolishness, greenness, illiteracy, immaturity, incapacity,
     ineptitude, inexperience, innocence, irrationality,
     know-nothingism, lackbrainedness, lackwittedness, low IQ,
     mental weakness, mindlessness, naivete, nescience, newness to,
     philistinism, primal stupidity, rawness, reasonlessness,
     senselessness, simpleness, simplicity, slackmindedness,
     slackwittedness, unaccustomedness, unacquaintance,
     unacquaintedness, unawareness, unconsciousness, unconversance,
     uncouthness, uncultivation, unenlightenment, unexperiencedness,
     unfamiliarity, unfledgedness, unhabituatedness, unintellectuality,
     unintelligence, unknowingness, unpracticedness, unprofessionalism,
     unprofessionalness, unripeness, unsophistication, unwisdom,
     unwiseness, unwontedness, witlessness
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  IGNORANCE. The want of knowledge. 
       2. Ignorance is distinguishable from error. Ignorance is want of 
  knowledge; error is the non-conformity or opposition of our ideas to the 
  truth. Considered as a motive of our actions, ignorance differs but little 
  from error. They are generally found together, and what is said of one is 
  said of both. 
       3. Ignorance and error, are of several kinds. 1. When considered as to 
  their object, they are of law and of fact. 2. When examined as to their 
  origin, they are voluntary or involuntary, 3. When viewed with regard to 
  their influence on the affairs of men, they are essential or non-essential. 
       4.-1. Ignorance of law and fact. 1. Ignorance of law, consists in the 
  want of knowledge of those laws which it is our duty to understand, and 
  which every man is presumed to know. The law forbids any one to marry a 
  woman whose husband is living. If any man, then, imagined he could marry 
  such a woman, he would be ignorant of the law; and, if he married her, he 
  would commit an error as to a matter of law. How far a party is bound to 
  fulfill a promise to pay, upon a supposed liability, and in ignorance of the 
  law, see 12 East, R. 38; 2 Jac. & Walk. 263; 5 Taunt. R. 143; 3 B. & Cresw. 
  R. 280; 1 John. Ch. R. 512, 516; 6 John. Ch. R. 166; 9 Cowen's R. 674; 4 
  Mass. R. 342; 7 Mass. R. 452; 7 Mass. R. 488; 9 Pick. R. 112; 1 Binn. R. 27. 
  And whether he can be relieved from a contract entered into in ignorance or 
  mistake of the law. 1 Atk. 591; 1 Ves. & Bea. 23, 30; 1 Chan. Cas. 84; 2 
  Vern. 243; 1 John. Ch. R. 512; 2 John. Ch. R. 51; 1 Pet. S. C. R. 1; 6 John. 
  Ch. R. 169, 170; 8 Wheat. R. 174; 2 Mason, R. 244, 342. 
       5.-2. Ignorance of fact, is the want of knowledge as to the fact in 
  question. It would be an error resulting from ignorance of a fact, if a man 
  believed a certain woman to be unmarried and free, when in fact, she was a 
  married woman; and were he to marry her under that belief, he would not be 
  criminally responsible. Ignorance of the laws of a foreign government, or of 
  another state; is ignorance of a fact. 9 Pick. 112. Vide, for the difference 
  between ignorance of law and ignorance of fact, 9 Pick. R. 112; Clef. des 
  Lois Rom. mot Fait; Dig. 22, 6, 7. 
       6.-2. Ignorance is either voluntary or involuntary. 1. It is 
  voluntary when a party might, by taking reasonable pains, have acquired the 
  necessary knowledge. For example, every man might acquire a knowledge of the 
  laws which have been promulgated, a neglect to become acquainted with them 
  is therefore voluntary ignorance. Doct. & St. 1, 46; Plowd. 343. 
       7.-2. Involuntary ignorance is that which does not proceed from 
  choice, and which cannot be overcome by the use of any means of knowledge 
  known to him and within his power; as, the ignorance of a law which has not 
  yet been promulgated. 
       8.-3. Ignorance is either essential or non-essential. 1. By essential 
  ignorance is understood that which has for its object some essential 
  circumstance so intimately connected with the: matter in question, and which 
  so influences the parties that it induces them to act in the business. For 
  example, if A should sell his horse to B, and at the time of the sale the 
  horse was dead, unknown to the parties, the fact of the death would render 
  the sale void. Poth. Vente, n. 3 and 4; 2 Kent, Com. 367. 
       9.-2. Non-essential or accidental ignorance is that which has not of 
  itself any necessary connexion with the business in question, and which is 
  not the true consideration for entering into the contract; as, if a man 
  should marry a woman whom he believed to be rich, and she proved to be poor, 
  this fact would not be essential, and the marriage would therefore be good. 
  Vide, generally, Ed. Inj. 7; 1 Johns. h. R. 512; 2 Johns. Ch. R. 41; S. C. 
  14 Johns. R 501; Dougl. 467; 2 East, R. 469; 1 Campb. 134: 5 Taunt. 379; 3 
  M. & S. 378; 12 East, R. 38; 1 Vern. 243; 3 P. Wms. 127, n.; 1 Bro. C. C. 
  92; 10 Ves. 406; 2 Madd. R. 163; 1 V. & B. 80; 2 Atk. 112, 591; 3 P. Wms. 
  315; Mos. 364; Doct. & Stud. Dial. 1, c. 26, p. 92; Id. Dial. 2, ch. 46, p. 
  303; 2 East, R. 469; 12 East, R. 38; 1 Fonb. Eq. B. 1, ch. 2, Sec. 7, note 
  v; 8 Wheat. R. 174; S. C. 1 Pet. S. C. R. 1; 1 Chan. Cas. 84; 1 Story, Eq. 
  Jur. Sec. 137, note 1; Dig. 22, 6; Code, 1, 16; Clef des Lois Rom. h.t.; 
  Merl. Repert. h.t.; 3 Sav. Dr. Rom. Appendice viii., pp. 337 to 444.