disapproval If you describe people or the place where they live as benighted, you think they are unfortunate or do not know anything. Famine hit that benighted country once more. having no knowledge or understanding (benighted (16-20 centuries), from night)
overtaken by night or darkness; "benighted (or nighted) travelers hurrying toward home
lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture; "this benighted country"; "benighted ages of barbarism and superstition"; "the dark ages"; "a dark age in the history of education"