unlearned
UK/ʌnˈlɜːnɪd/US/ʌnˈlɝnɪd/
unlearned adjective: ignorant, uneducated, untaught, untrained. Also the simple past and past participle of unlearn.
Adjective (1)
unlearned (comparative more unlearned, superlative most unlearned)
- ignorant, uneducated, untaught, untrained.
- How much do I know / To talk out of turn / You might say that I'm young / You might say I'm unlearned / But there's one thing I know / Though I'm younger than you / Even Jesus would never / Forgive what you do1963, “Masters of War” (track 3, side 1), in Bob Dylan (lyrics), (traditional)/Jean Ritchie (music), The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, performed by Bob Dylan
- Synonyms:
- benighted, cimmerian, clueless, foolish, ignorant, ill-informed, illiterate, innocent, lack-learning, lay
- Antonyms:
- learned
Adjective (2)
UK/ʌnˈlɜːnd/US/ʌnˈlɝnd/
unlearned (comparative more unlearned, superlative most unlearned)
- Of a behavior: not learned; innate.
- Synonyms:
- inborn, inherent, connate, connatural, congenital, congenite, genetous, inbred, indigenous, ingenite
- Of information: that has not (yet) been learned; unknown.
- Did she ever return? No, she never returned.
Her fate is yet unlearned
Though for years and years there were fond ones watching
For the ship that never returned.1865, Henry Clay Work, “The Ship That Never Returned”
- Did she ever return? No, she never returned.
Also used as
unlearned is also the simple past and past participle of unlearn.
Synonyms of unlearned
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- philistine
- tenebrose
- unaware
- uncultivated
- uncultured
- uneducated
- unenlightened
- unerudite
- uninformed
- unknowing
- unknowledgeable
- unlearnt
- unlettered
- unmindful
- unread
- unscholarly
- unschooled
- untaught
- untrained
- untutored
- unwitting
- inborn
- inherent
- connate
- connatural
- congenital
- inbred
- indigenous
- ingenite
- innate
Antonyms
Forms of unlearned
| comparative | more unlearned |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unlearned |
| alternative form | unlearnt |
Origin of unlearned
From Middle English unlerned (“not taught, uneducated”). By surface analysis, un- (“not”) + learned (“educated”).
From un- (“not”) + learned (“studied”), past participle of learn.
From Middle English unlernyd (“obliterated from memory, forgotten”), equivalent to unlearn + -ed.
Words formed from unlearned
Questions about unlearned
- What does unlearned mean?
- Unlearned means ignorant, uneducated, untaught, untrained.
- What part of speech is unlearned?
- Unlearned is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unlearned?
- Unlearned is pronounced /ʌnˈlɜːnɪd/ (UK).
Words near unlearned in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unlearned (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “unlearned.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unlearned. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.