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

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

Gentleman thief Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) circles the prize while Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) bungles the pursuit with sublime obliviousness. — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2025

There is total and telling obliviousness to his giant flat-screen television, tuned to the SEC Network and a women’s soccer match between Arkansas and … Notre Dame. — Brian Hamilton, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025