know-nothing: Meaning and Definition of

know-noth•ing

1. an ignorant or totally uninformed person; ignoramus.
2. an agnostic.
3. (caps.)a member of a political partyprominent from 1853 to 1856, whose aim was to keep control of the government in the hands of native-born citizens: so called because members originally professed ignorance of the party's activities.
4. a person whose anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, and other political attitudes recall the Know-Nothings.

1. grossly ignorant; totally uninformed.
2. agnostic.
3. (caps.) of or pertaining to the Know-Nothings.
4. of or pertaining to a political know-nothing.