ignore
Formsignores, ignoring, ignored
- 1To deliberately refuse to listen or pay attention to someone or something.
Drivers who ignore warning signs put everyone at risk.
She ignored the constant interruptions and finished her report.
UsageIt means choosing not to notice, not lacking knowledge: I don't know the answer (not
incorrect: I ignore the answer).Note
Latin reached this sense by way of knowledge: ignōrō meant both 'to have no knowledge of' and 'to take no notice of', and its root is the one in know, still visible in the 'not know' sense.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Latin ignōrō had both the knowledge-related meaning and the meaning ‘take no notice of’. en.wiktionary.org
- Ignore ultimately shares its root with know. en.wiktionary.org
- English ignore also has an obsolete ‘not know’ sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To deliberately pretend not to notice someone or something, as though they were not present.
My neighbor ignored me in the elevator, staring at her phone the whole ride down.
Coworkers who ignore each other make the office tense.
UsageAimed at a person, it is a snub: she ignored me at the party. For wrongdoing, turn a blind eye to is common.
Similaroverlook
Note
Here the noticing has already happened, and only the response is withheld. Aimed at a person, the pretense works as a snub. Aimed at misconduct, it moves toward wink at, turn a blind eye to and connive, where pretending not to see becomes a quiet kind of permission. That shift from inattention to complicity is what separates it from simple deliberate inattention.
- 3To leave something out of account or not take it into consideration, without any deliberate snub, as a model, rule, program or argument does.
Note
Here nobody is snubbing anything: a theory, a rule or a program ignores whatever it leaves out of account. A simple model ignores air resistance, a parser ignores blank lines, and a weak argument ignores a key fact. The point is omission, not a refusal to look.
Less common meaning
- 4To be without knowledge of something; to be unaware of a fact or matter.
Oppositeknow
Note
The plainest descendant of the Latin root behind the everyday sense, meaning simply to lack knowledge, with no choice involved. Its antonym is know, and the pairing is apt, since the two words share their root.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Ignore derives ultimately from a Latin verb meaning to lack knowledge. en.wiktionary.org
- Know is the antonym of ignore in its obsolete lack-of-knowledge sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Ignore and know share the ultimate root *ǵneh₃-. en.wiktionary.org
Practice
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Origin
English took this from French ignorer. Its source is Latin ignōrō, meaning to take no notice of or to have no knowledge of. That verb was perhaps formed from ignārus ("not knowing"), which joins in- with gnārus ("knowing") and goes back to a root meaning "to know."