Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having total knowledge; knowing everything.
  • noun One having total knowledge.
  • noun God. Used with the.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • All-knowing; possessing knowledge of all things; having infinite or universal knowledge: as, God only is omniscient.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having universal knowledge; knowing all things; infinitely knowing or wise.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having total knowledge.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective infinitely wise

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin omnisciēns, omniscient- : Latin omni-, omni- + Latin sciēns, scient-, present participle of scīre, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin omnisciens ("all-knowing"), from Latin omnis ("all") + sciens ("knowing").

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Examples

  • Her unironic use of the n-word (in omniscient narration, not spoken by a character) in the opening pages of The Violent Bear It Away should make anyone this side of Strom Thurmond squirm, something she seems to have realized, since it was edited out of later editions.

    Signature Elements 2009

  • Rob, I would never write anything in omniscient POV.

    Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Finding your inner voice 2009

  • Point of view issues: the first-person omniscient is extremely difficult to carry off without making me run away, far away, very quickly.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway 2008

  • It's Holmes from his own point of view (the book is in omniscient, but it stays tightly tied to his point of view most of the time, and some passages are told as if from his own pen) and it's actually done well, something I'm not sure I've ever seen before.

    "I cannot say with any degree of certainty. I really cannot say." matociquala 2007

  • I suppose third omniscient is easier when you’re writing something with so large a scope.

    Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Which Person Comes First? 2008

  • So-called omniscient narration, he argues, is "almost impossible": narrative about a character tends to "take on his or her way of thinking and speaking."

    Required Reading 2008

  • When used in narrative, it often indicates a POV shift from close third to omniscient, that is when 'they' includes the POV character.

    and onwards mikandra 2008

  • Janes chooses to write from what may be called the omniscient viewpoint.

    Occupied France and viewpoint in fiction Michael Allen 2004

  • Janes chooses to write from what may be called the omniscient viewpoint.

    November 2004 Michael Allen 2004

  • Janes chooses to write from what may be called the omniscient viewpoint.

    Archive 2004-11-01 Michael Allen 2004

Comments

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  • Me: Can you help me to find peace?

    God: Certainly, I have an extensive built-in help system.

    Me: Flop out the good vibes then. Please.

    God: What is vibrating and what is causing it to vibrate?

    Me: I thought you were omniscient?

    God: I don't know whether or not I am omniscient.

    - from a conversation with a chatbot known as iGod.

    February 16, 2009

  • The recorded Macmillan pronunciation on this entry disagrees with the pronunciation written out above it. Can bad pronunciations be deleted?

    May 16, 2011