# benighted

> English word · Adjective · IPA /bɪˈnaɪtɪd/ · frequency rank #76,574

## Definitions
1. Overtaken by night; especially of a traveller, etc.: caught out by oncoming night before reaching one's destination.
2. Plunged into darkness.
3. Lacking education or knowledge; unenlightened; also, lacking morality; immoral, unscrupulous.
4. Difficult to understand; abstruse, obscure.

## Etymology
From benight + -ed.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/benighted