Synonyms of obliviousness

obliviousness

noun

1

as in ignorance

a state of being disregardful or unconscious of one's surroundings, concerns, or obligations

her general obliviousness often results in her walking into walls and other hard-to-miss objects

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignorance
• blindness
• forgetfulness
• oblivion
• innocence
• nirvana
• unawareness
• amnesia
• unfamiliarity
• unconsciousness
• insensibility
• absorption
• abstraction
• preoccupation
• inattention
• nescience
• inattentiveness
• absentmindedness
• incognizance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• memory
• recollection
• awareness
• consciousness
• recall
• remembrance
• cognizance
• alertness

2

as in unawareness

the state of being unaware or uninformed

obliviousness of a law is not an acceptable excuse for breaking it

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignorance
• unawareness
• cluelessness
• innocence
• unfamiliarity
• nescience
• naïveté
• benightedness
• inexperience
• incognizance
• greenness
• callowness
• unsophistication
• rawness
• simpleness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• awareness
• familiarity
• acquaintance
• cognizance
• experience
• sophistication
• know-how

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of obliviousness

Nacer is quite good at variations of patriarchal obliviousness, and Pebdani suffuses her women with streaks of guilt. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2026

Also missing is any clear acknowledgment of Singer’s fear for the horrors in store for Antonapoulos, and the dramatic irony created by Antonapoulos’ own seeming obliviousness to how his life is being upended. — Billy J. Stratton, The Conversation, 21 Aug. 2026

Feel-good party music is usually rooted in escapism, or simple obliviousness, while socially conscious art tends toward the bleak, especially these days. — Will Lynch, Pitchfork, 11 May 2026

His obliviousness is what’s also somewhat endearing but also what’s grounding. — Carly Thomas, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2026

After a two-hour tale of comical deception, betrayal, emotional cruelty, insensitivity and obliviousness, the audience is expected to swallow a message of caring and community. — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 27 Feb. 2026

In Aspen, Wiseman deployed this method to showcase the casual obliviousness of some of his subjects. — Vikram Murthi, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026

Meanwhile, a stylist has had to cancel his own honeymoon due to delays in the tour, indicating both slavish, life-altering devotion to the British pop star in her coterie, but also her obliviousness to such things going on. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2026

Arriving empty-handed, leaving messes behind, being hours late — behaviors like these reflect obliviousness or busyness at best, or selfishness or entitlement at worst. — Kristen Rogers, CNN Money, 25 Dec. 2025