MEANING
The state of knowing everything, or being presented as though nothing lies beyond one’s knowledge.
Use it for
describing a being that seems to know every thought; analyzing a narrator’s access to private experience; portraying the unsettling absence of secrets; distinguishing unlimited knowledge from specialized expertiseNames all-encompassing knowledge as a power, narrative stance, or unsettling appearance rather than ordinary expertise. Writing functions: Cosmic Horror fallback.
Words that belong together
- divine omniscience
- narrative omniscience
- an air of omniscience
On the page
The intelligence’s apparent omniscience became frightening only when it repeated her unspoken question.
The novel abandons narrative omniscience when the mother enters the locked room.
Word forms
- Base
- omniscience
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Usage notes
Uncountable abstract noun: omniscience; apparent omniscience; an air of omniscience. No ordinary plural is needed. Omniscient is a related adjective, not an inflection of this noun. Register: formal. Commonness: uncommon (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
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