Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The condition or quality of being completely forgotten: "He knows that everything he writes is consigned to posterity (oblivion's other, seemingly more benign, face)” ( Joyce Carol Oates).
- n. The act or an instance of forgetting; total forgetfulness: sought the great oblivion of sleep.
- n. Official overlooking of offenses; amnesty.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state of being forgotten or lost to memory.
- n. The act or fact of forgetting; forgetfulness.
- n. A forgetting of offenses, or remission of punishment. An act of oblivion is an amnesty or general pardon of crimes and offenses granted by a sovereign, by which punishment is remitted.
- n. Synonyms Oblivion, Forgetfulness, Obliviousness. Oblivion is the state into which a thing passes when it is thoroughly and finally forgotten. The use of oblivion for the act of forgetting was an innovation of the Latinizing age, which has not won recognition, nor has the “Act of Oblivion” given oblivion currency in the sense of official or formal pardon. Forgetfulness is a quality of a person: as, a man remarkable for his forgetfulness. If forgetfulness is ever properly used where oblivion would serve, it still seems the act of a person: as, to be buried in forgetfulness. Obliviousness stands for a sort of negative act, a complete failure to remember: as, a person's obliviousness of the proprieties of an occasion.
Wiktionary
- n. The state of forgetfulness or distraction.
- n. The state of being completely forgotten.
- n. A state of permanent unconsciousness existing after death
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness.
- n. Official ignoring of offenses; amnesty, or general pardon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. total forgetfulness
- n. the state of being disregarded or forgotten
Etymologies
- From Anglo-Norman oblivion ( = Old French oblivion), from Latin oblīviō ("forgetfulness"), from oblivisci ("to forget"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin oblīviō, oblīviōn-, from oblīvīscī, to forget; see lei- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The real interesting story in oblivion is the one the player tells to himself using the tools at offered by the game's designers.”
A post for Xenia: Simulation and an apologetic explanation of Super Columbine Massacre RPG
“It seems a little over the top especially the term oblivion for it has hapenned before has metane relase and as part fo the 5 previous great extinctions and hey the planet is as beautiful and life still thrives”
“Obozo is spending us in oblivion, failed stimulus, trillion dollar plus goverment run healthcare boondogle and his policies are hampering job growth and dragging on the recession.”
“The GOP is racing to meet the Whigs in oblivion at full speed, so let them blow themselves up.”
“Andy may be right that Democratic leadership has made the decision that political oblivion is an acceptable cost for a one-time remaking of America that Republicans will find difficult to reverse in the next session.”
Health care reconciliation is an exercise in futility. | RedState
“How cutting 40,000 workers from state government won't contribute to California's already high unemployment rate and smash state revenues into oblivion is a Rubik few can explain.”
The Huffington Post: Charles D. Ellison: Where Do People Think Gov't Workers Come From?
“So, the thought of our greatest and most treasured pieces of literature being burned into oblivion is supremely frightening.”
“All the third rate Schoenberg and Stockhausen imitations are resting in oblivion, along with most of the other music ever written.”
“Why you want to maintain the same rhetoric that brought your party to oblivion is beyond me.”
Before the White House, the Clubhouse - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
“This whole cycle of redistricting either party into oblivion is petty and foolish.”
Waldo Jaquith - House Republicans to oppose nonpartisan redistricting?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘oblivion’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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Mirrored Vowels
Rules:
• The word must have an even number of vowels.
• There must be four or more vowels; thus, at minimum, an A-A-A-A or A-B-B-A pattern.
• The vowels must appear in a mir...feminine, solicitor, caruncular, repackager, semiprimes, fetishises, decomposer, demonlover, recomposer, sepultures, lipotropic, colesterol and 385 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Don't Forget
Forgetting words & remembrance words.
to bear in mind, disremember, mind, oubliette, recollect, forget, oblivion, lethe, amnesia, mnemonic, retain, recall and 1 more...
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Humanity
bodies, organs, jar, soul, oblivion, annihilate, heart, warfare, people, work, endless, meek and 9 more...
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nacsnorlax's list
for word's sake
press, wild, hart, decay, grudge, juggernaut, oblivion, tender, scent, suzanne, rien, c'est
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Shadowkeir's list
This list, the one shown below this very message, is a collection of words that you cannot begin to fathom how much I adore. The list will also feature atithesis and contrasting words such as the t...
wishful, anticlimactic, forte, monchromatic, septic, wonderous, isoclinal, deformed, disintergrate, favourite, laughable, awe-inspiring and 250 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
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Necessary?
"Words are very..."
The above was the original description for this list. Unfortunately, it doesn't convey much about the list contents.
I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions abo...supererogation, fruitcake, unbeknownst, melifluous, bane, cavy, unnecessary, lyrical, question, undertow, weapon, arduous and 200 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Daily
Daily Vocab List
lull, pious, lurid, objurgate, insurgent, lewd, patio, onus, lampoon, geisha, larceny, maim and 206 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for oblivion.
bilby
Oblivion comes to me a kingly guest,
with hands compassionate and blessed steps.
My guest comes strongly on,
folding the distances, the dark unknown.
- Ibrahim Naji, 'Oblivion'. Sep 16, 2008