omniscient
Americanadjective
-
having infinite knowledge or understanding
-
having very great or seemingly unlimited knowledge
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of omniscient
First recorded in 1595–1605; from New Latin omniscient-, stem of omnisciēns “all-knowing,” from Latin omni- omni- + sciēns “knowing” ( see science)
Explanation
To be omniscient is to know everything. This often refers to a special power of God. If you combine the Latin roots omnis (meaning "all") and scientia (meaning "knowledge"), you'll get omniscient, meaning "knowledge of all." It would be nice to be omniscient: then you would know absolutely everything in the world. Many religions have a god who is all-powerful and omniscient. This is how a god is supposed to know when you sinned, or what's going to happen in the future.
Vocabulary lists containing omniscient
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 3
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Latin Love, Vol I: sci
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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.
Omniscient narrators know all characters’ thoughts and actions regardless of whether the characters are present.
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
Then, in the sort of wry, have-it-both-ways meta-gesture native to the series, she added, “And by ‘the show’ I mean the very popular B.P.D. workbook acronym Simply Having Omniscient Wishes.”
From The New Yorker • Apr. 8, 2019
How pleasant to become reacquainted with the Omniscient Novelist!
From Time Magazine Archive
Omniscient as Sherlock Holmes and calmative as Candida, Constance knows all about it and does not wish to be told.
From Time Magazine Archive
Robert Boyle asked: And how will it be prov’d, that the Omniscient God, or that admirable Contriver, Nature, can exhibit Phaenomena by no wayes, but such as are explicable, by the dim Reason of Man?
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
