omniscient
Americanadjective
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having infinite knowledge or understanding
-
having very great or seemingly unlimited knowledge
Other Word 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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Grade 9, List 3
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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.
The system, which fuses data from smartphones, security and traffic cameras, Wi-Fi signals, drones, government databases and social media, has granted Israel what seems an almost omniscient ability to track Hezbollah cadres’ every movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
Yet economic policy-makers are neither omniscient nor omnipotent.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026
Instead of omniscient narrators, they deployed free indirect speech to reveal characters’ innermost thoughts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
That is the way Moravia writes — except that you, reader, have been granted omniscient privileges to sit on his shoulder and copy all the answers!
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
Had he imagined that the library had omniscient fairies on staff to record everything that happened in the world, no matter how secret, or how far away?
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
