BENIGHTED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Benighted

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/bɪnˈaɪtɪd/ Listen

verb

benight v. t. (past & past part. benighted; pres. part. benighting)

To involve in darkness; to shroud with the shades of night; to obscure. (Archaic) "The clouds benight the sky."

To overtake with night or darkness, especially before the end of a day's journey or task. "Some virgin, sure,... benighted in these woods."

To involve in moral darkness, or ignorance; to debar from intellectual light. "Shall we to men benighted The lamp of life deny?"

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Etymology of 'Benighted'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Benighted" Quotes from Famous Books

... shrewd casuists know too well that by such frank confession, they would soon lose their hold on Catholic populations, especially on women, by whom, through confession, they rule the world. They much prefer to keep their gripe on benighted minds, frightened consciences, and trembling souls. No wonder, then, that they fully endorse and confirm the decisions of the councils of Latran and Trent ordering "that all sins must be confessed such as God knows them." No wonder that they ...

— The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional • Father Chiniquy

... their backs; and the yelp of the blood-hound who was to bury his fangs deep into their flesh, in case they sought for liberty. Such was the music with which the Anglo-Saxon came down to the shore to extend a hearty welcome to the forlorn children of night, brought from a benighted heathen land to ...

— Imperium in Imperio: A Study Of The Negro Race Problem - A Novel • Sutton E. Griggs

... work of these missionaries with indifference, if not disfavor, for I had been led to believe that they were accomplishing little or nothing. But now I have seen, and I know of what incalculable value the services are that they are rendering to the poor, benighted people of this coast. ...

— The Long Labrador Trail • Dillon Wallace

... and no room for 'em. Some things are too little to be told, i.e. to have a preference; some are too big and circumstantial. Thanks for yours, which was most delicious. Would I had been with you, benighted, &c.! I fear my head is turned with wandering. I shall never be the same acquiescent being. Farewell. Write again quickly, for I shall not like to hazard a letter, not knowing where the fates have carried ...

— Selected English Letters (XV - XIX Centuries) • Various

... sting. He recognized the fact that yellow fever is not contagious and therefore could not think of the possibility of man-to-man infection, as we know it to-day. The keenest observer was this man Beauperthuy, and, even at that benighted time in the history of tropical medicine, made most interesting studies of the blood and tissues, employing the microscope and the chemical reactions in his research. No one believed him, and a commission appointed to report ...

— Popular Science Monthly Volume 86

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