Know-Nothings

Cultural

A party opposed to the holding of public office by immigrants or Roman Catholics. The Know-Nothings, also known as “nativists,” insisted that only true, “native” Americans should serve in the government. The party was quite successful in the 1850s but split over the slavery question. Its official name was the American party. It picked up the “Know-Nothing” tag because its members, maintaining secrecy about the party's activities, customarily answered questions with, “I know nothing.”

Discover More

Today, the term know-nothing is usually applied to bigots.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Though Greenpeace was scrappy and underfunded, the crew of the Rainbow Warrior wasn’t a bunch of hippie know-nothings.

From Slate

If you believe this, no wonder you might conclude that, ominously, a society of know-nothings and those with a newfound disdain for thought will produce only a few who can be counted as wise — despite society’s pressing need for wise humans to guide, counsel and direct us.

From Washington Post

That created multiple political factions within the Democratic and Republican parties, like the Northern Whigs, Southern Whigs and the Know-Nothings, with slavery even creating internal divides within those very factions.

From Slate

By the late 1850s, because he had been claimed by the Know-Nothings for their own, Brother Jonathan was no longer a viable national symbol.

From Slate

We were about a dozen people, ranging from graffiti connoisseurs to know-nothings, with most of us somewhere in between — plus two tour-guides-to-be there for training purposes — and had come to look at graffiti/street art/urban art in the Central District and the Chinatown International District.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023