Word of the Day Archive
Sunday August 5, 2001
oblivious \uh-BLIV-ee-us\ , adjective:
1. Lacking all memory; forgetful.
2. Lacking active conscious awareness or knowledge; unmindful.
Traveling to a strange, new landscape is a kind of romance. You become intensely aware of the world where you are, but also oblivious to the rest of the world at the same time.
-- Diane Ackerman, Deep Play
She has walked for a long time, oblivious of the wind, the sun burning her, the length of her journey.
-- Henry Bauchau, Oedipus on the Road translated by Anne-Marie Glasheen
Bill could be harshly self-critical, while Mac--though not oblivious of his mistakes--had no time for introspection.
-- Kai Bird, The Color of Truth
Oblivious comes from Latin obliviosus, from oblivio, from oblivisci "to forget." A related word is oblivion, "the act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for oblivious
