Ignorance is often misinterpreted as a synonym of Stupidity, and is as thus often taken as an insult, when really it is, in its correct form, not an insult at all but more of a criticism. Hence the derogatory aphorism "You can fix ignorance but you can't fix stupid."

Ignorance 1) is a lack of knowledge. Ignorance is also a "state of being ignorant" or unaware/uninformed. Ex: "In debate class Bill lost the debate because he was ignorant in (without knowledge of) that subject." In such a case the term is not pejorative, and may even be used as a self