oblivious

adjective

obliv·​i·​ous ə-ˈbli-vē-əs How to pronounce oblivious (audio)
1
: lacking remembrance, memory, or mindful attention
2
: lacking active conscious knowledge or awareness
usually used with of or to
obliviously adverb
obliviousness noun

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How to Use Oblivious in a Sentence: does it go with 'of' or 'to'?

Oblivious usually has to do with not being conscious or aware of someone or something. When used with this meaning, it can be followed by either to or of:

The cat had crept in silently, and we were oblivious to its presence in the room.

There was no chance that anyone could be oblivious of the dog, though; it greeted everyone in the room with frisky leaps.

Oblivious can also have to do with forgetfulness, and when it's used this way, it is often followed by of (but not to):

The child had brought in a snake she'd discovered in the garden, oblivious of the promise she'd made to leave all found creatures outside.

Whatever meaning of oblivious you choose to use, the noun that correlates with this adjective is obliviousness:

Our obliviousness to the cat's presence in the room was quickly corrected by the dog's discovery of the cat under the chair.

The noun oblivion is related to both, of course, but it is not the noun form of oblivious.

Examples of oblivious in a Sentence

They were pushing and shouting and oblivious to anyone not in their group. P. J. O'Rourke, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 1996
Prentice looked up from his food, which he had been steadily shovelling in, completely oblivious of everyone. Antonya Nelson, New Yorker, 9 Nov. 1992
Oblivious of any previous decisions not to stand together …  , the three stood in a tight group … Doris Lessing, The Good Terrorist, 1985
Father was oblivious to the man's speculative notice of his wife. E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1974
She rested now, frankly and fairly, in the shelter of his arms, and both were oblivious to the gale that rushed past them in quicker and stronger blasts. Jack London, Burning Daylight, 1910
the out-of-state motorist claimed to be oblivious of the local speed limit, even though the signs must have been hard to miss
Recent Examples on the Web Meanwhile, her mother, caught between her coercive uncle and a murky legal system, is oblivious to her daughter’s deteriorating mental state. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024 My supervisors are completely oblivious to my dilemma and fury, for now. Roxane Gay, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2024 Piglet, Winnie-the-Pooh franchise (1926–present) Sidekick to: Winnie-the-Pooh Piglet is timid, skittish, and self-conscious; Pooh is oblivious, adventurous, and rumbly-in-my-tumbly goofy. Ew Staff Updated, EW.com, 6 Mar. 2024 This, in turn, led to billions of messages with malicious intent being blocked before they could even be delivered, meaning Gmail users were oblivious to them having been sent in the first place. Davey Winder, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 The bride and groom were just prancing around posing for photos, oblivious to it all. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2024 Ellison and Badolato climb down from the car and stand at the park’s edge, as Ellison’s son toddles around the grass, oblivious to what had transpired in that very spot. Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2024 When the patriarch is shot by a mysterious assassin, Charles travels from Taipei to Los Angeles to protect his mother Eileen (Yeoh) and younger brother Bruce (Li), the latter of whom is oblivious to his family's ties to the criminal underworld. Jessica Wang, EW.com, 22 Dec. 2023 Wilson was, in this respect, the perfect exemplar of the ivory-tower intellectual and the gray bureaucrat who moves around real-world human beings like so many pieces on a game board, oblivious to the cost. Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 6 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oblivious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Latin oblīviōsus, from oblīvi-, base of oblīviōn-, oblīviō "state of forgetting, dismissal from the memory" + -ōsus -ous — more at oblivion

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of oblivious was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near oblivious

Cite this Entry

“Oblivious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oblivious. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

oblivious

adjective
obliv·​i·​ous ə-ˈbliv-ē-əs How to pronounce oblivious (audio)
ō-,
ä-
: not being conscious or aware
oblivious to the danger
oblivious of the crowd
obliviously adverb
obliviousness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on oblivious

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