Dictionary

omniscience en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɑmˈnɪʃəns/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /ɒmˈnɪsiəns/ (UK)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin omniscientia (“all-knowledge”), from Latin omni- (“all”), and scient from the Latin scientia (“knowledge”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The capacity to know everything.
   • Near-synonyms: all-seeingness, omnividence
   • If, a few pages back, the present writer claimed the privilege of peeping into Miss Amelia Sedley's bedroom, and understanding with the omniscience the novelist all the gentle pains and passions which were tossing upon that innocent pillow, why should he not declare himself to be Rebecca's confidante too, master of her secrets, and seal-keeper of that young woman's conscience? 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 15, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
   • Many people believe in God's omniscience.
   • However, his main point is clearly that the political organization should be subordinate to the real aspirations of the working class and should not be allowed to claim that it expresses those aspirations by virtue of its own 'scientific' omniscience, regardless of what the empirical 'masses' actually think. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 245:

Forms

Deriveds

nonomniscience · superomniscience

Relateds

omniscient · all-knowing · omnipresence · omnipotence

Synonyms

all-seeingness · omnividence

Translations (31)

sv allvetenhet (capacity to know everything) · is alviska (capacity to know everything) · vi chính biến tri (capacity to know everything) · fi kaikkitietävyys (capacity to know everything) · vi nhất thiết trí (capacity to know everything) · pt omnisciência (capacity to know everything) · ru всеве́дение (capacity to know everything) · bg всезнание (capacity to know everything) · tl pagkataluslahat (capacity to know everything) · de Allwissenheit (capacity to know everything) · ka ყოვლისმცოდნეობა (capacity to know everything) · ca omnisciència (capacity to know everything) · sh sveznalaštvo (capacity to know everything) · fr omniscience (capacity to know everything) · hu mindentudás (capacity to know everything) · mk семудрост (capacity to know everything) · sh sveznanje (capacity to know everything) · it onniscienza (capacity to know everything) · uk усезнання́ (capacity to know everything) · rsk всезнанє (capacity to know everything) · cs vševědoucnost (capacity to know everything) · uk всезнання́ (capacity to know everything) · nl alwetendheid (capacity to know everything) · es omnisciencia (capacity to know everything) · ga uilefhios (capacity to know everything) · sa सर्वज्ञता (capacity to know everything) · bg всезнайство (capacity to know everything) · vi toàn tri (capacity to know everything) · pl wszechwiedza (capacity to know everything) · pt onisciência (capacity to know everything) · mk сезнајност (capacity to know everything)