know-nothing

Examples

• All

• "You were expecting a backwoods, know-nothing hick, weren't you?

  Fiction book (1997)

• Try telling your boss what a greedy, know-nothing moron he or she is.

  Blog text (24)

• I would never say that every Know-Nothing is a horse thief.

  Fiction book (2002)

• The GOP needs to shed itself of the Know Nothings and such...

  Blog text (33)

• Ryan looks like a young know-nothing punk compared to Vice President Joe Biden.

  Blog text (27)

• Have we actually allowed a hypocritical smart-ass know-nothing to affect us this way?

  Blog text (6)

• Oh, I took you for one of those could-be, wanna-be record producers, arrangers, managers... know-nothing-about-music types.

  The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2011)

• But I, by the definition given here, am the anti-intellectual, the know-nothing, the faux populist, and Constitution-shredding Republican.

  Blog text (20)

• Was he actually allying himself with the know-nothing, business-as-usual conservatives who viewed the climate-change scare as a great mistake or, worse, a hoax?

  Academic text (2010)

• His constant spread of misinformation reveals him to be nothing more than a know-nothing when it comes to the subject.

Synonyms

D

dope

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

53 8.2

A person who acts in a stupid or foolish way

focuses more on missing knowledge than on simple foolish behaviour

I

ignoramus

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

12 8.3

A person who does not know much

is used more often as a casual insult rather than a formal label

N

numbskull

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

8 6.8

A person who is not very smart and often acts without thinking

targets lack of knowledge or ignorance rather than low general intelligence

N

noob

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

8 8.4

A person who is new and not skilled at games or online groups

is not limited to newness and instead insults general absence of knowledge

U

uneducated person

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

3 3.0

A person who has little or no schooling

is broader, insulting lack of knowledge beyond just formal education

D

dumbo

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

2 8.7

A person who is not very smart

is harsher and more about lacking knowledge than mild foolishness

L

lackwit

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

1 9.9

A person who is silly and not very clever

is a current insulting term that emphasises ignorance rather than old style insult

S

simple

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

1 9.9

A person who is not very intelligent

points specifically to lacking knowledge or being ignorant rather than low sense

N

nonexpert

vsknow-nothing

1 4.2

A person who does not have special knowledge or skill in a subject

is broader, criticising overall lack of general knowledge rather than a single field

N

nerts

vsknow-nothing

• Offensive

9.9

A foolish or silly person said as an insult

is a modern insult focusing on lack of knowledge rather than old usage

Antonyms

E

expert

∞ 3.2

A person who knows a lot about a subject and can help others

A

authority

292 4.2

A person or book that people trust for expert information

How Knowledgeable

expert

∞ 3.2

learner

67 1.0

novice

46 3.4

know-nothing

• Offensive

5 8.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology