omniscient
om-NISH-unt
/ɒmˈnɪs.i.ənt/
Knowing everything; having complete or unlimited knowledge.
Used in religion to describe God's knowledge, and in literary criticism to describe a third-person narrator who knows all character thoughts.
The story behind the word. From Medieval Latin 'omniscientem', combining Latin 'omnis' (all) with 'sciens' (knowing, from 'scire' to know, the root of science).
Word relationships
- all-knowing: Direct Germanic equivalent; plain and evocative.
- ignorant: Lacking knowledge.
- unaware: Lacking awareness of facts.
Commonly confused with
- omnipresent: Omniscient means knowing everything; omnipresent means present everywhere.
Word family
- omniscience (noun): The state of knowing everything.
- omnisciently (adverb): In an all-knowing manner.
Collocations
- omniscient narrator
- omniscient deity
- omniscient perspective
Example sentences
- "The novel uses an omniscient narrator who reveals the secret motivations of every character." Literary Criticism
- "If God is truly omniscient, philosophers ask how human free will can genuinely exist." Philosophy of Religion
Memory hook
OMNI (all) + SCIENT (think 'science' = knowledge). Omniscient = knowing all knowledge. All-knowing mind.
When not to use
Do not use to describe a person who is merely intelligent or well-read.
Fun facts
- Third-person 'omniscient' point of view was the dominant narrative technique in 19th-century European novels.
Related words
Explore more words
omnipotence, perceptive, cognizant, transcendent, observant, perspicacious
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