But I think one of the examples I picked has finally talked me out of this. I would happily use “vacant” to also describe a place that has never been occupied, so it didn’t require vacating to be vacant. In that case, vacate means to make vacant, not vice versa. I’ll apply that to ignore/ignorant, and I think I finally understand how people have been so comfortable with that definition.
I will also say that ‘to ignore something’ implies but doesn’t mean to be aware of something. If you’re not aware of something, you’re ignoring it by default, which is also the case with being ignorant.
You have described the difference between ignorant and willfully ignorant.
To ignore is always willful, isn’t it?
But I think one of the examples I picked has finally talked me out of this. I would happily use “vacant” to also describe a place that has never been occupied, so it didn’t require vacating to be vacant. In that case, vacate means to make vacant, not vice versa. I’ll apply that to ignore/ignorant, and I think I finally understand how people have been so comfortable with that definition.
I will also say that ‘to ignore something’ implies but doesn’t mean to be aware of something. If you’re not aware of something, you’re ignoring it by default, which is also the case with being ignorant.