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benightedness

 - 3 dictionary results

be⋅night⋅ed

  [bi-nahy-tid]
Use benightedness in a Sentence
–adjective
1. intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened: benighted ages of barbarism and superstition.
2. overtaken by darkness or night.
Origin:
1565–75; benight ( be- + night ) + -ed 2

Related forms:
be⋅night⋅ed⋅ly, adverb
be⋅night⋅ed⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. backward, primitive, crude, uncultivated.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To benightedness
be·night·ed   (bĭ-nī'tĭd)   
adj.  

  1. Overtaken by night or darkness.

  2. Being in a state of moral or intellectual darkness; unenlightened.

be·night'ed·ly adv., be·night'ed·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

benighted 
1575, "overtaken by darkness," from be- + night (q.v.). Fig. sense of "in intellectual or moral darkness" (1634) first recorded in Milton.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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