Definitions

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

  • adverb In an unobservant manner; with careless inattention.
  • adverb archaic In a manner that is not observed; unnoticeably.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

unobservant +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • Frequently, also, she took long drives alone or with one of the children, holding the reins listlessly, and ranging the highway unobservantly for miles around.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861 Various

  • I took the brush and turned to the window, leaning my forehead against the glass and staring unobservantly at the view.

    The Return of the Soldier 1918

  • Home people, whose air of ownership to the surroundings classified them at once, moving unobservantly about their affairs.

    At Fault Kate Chopin 1877

  • The boiling of her secret carried her through the streets rapidly and unobservantly except of such small things as the glow of the lights on the pavements and the hushed cognizance of the houses, in silence to a thoroughfare where a willing cabman was met.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868

  • The boiling of her secret carried her through the streets rapidly and unobservantly except of such small things as the glow of the lights on the pavements and the hushed cognizance of the houses, in silence to a thoroughfare where a willing cabman was met.

    Diana of the Crossways — Complete George Meredith 1868

  • The boiling of her secret carried her through the streets rapidly and unobservantly except of such small things as the glow of the lights on the pavements and the hushed cognizance of the houses, in silence to a thoroughfare where a willing cabman was met.

    Diana of the Crossways — Volume 4 George Meredith 1868

  • Elizabeth, who throughout had faithfully kept her pledge; who went about silently and unobservantly, and by every means in her power put aside the curiosity of Mrs. Jones as to what could be

    Mistress and Maid. A Household Story. 1864

  • Having observed whatever he thought it would afterward prove useful to know, he descended the same way, not unobservantly, as he had gone up, but exploring and noticing all the peculiarities of the path.

    Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War 86 BC-34? BC Sallust 1844

  • You have witnessed, I would fain hope, not unobservantly, the dear delights of our first childish intercourse, when our minds and hearts were drawn together by an affection and a congeniality of taste and sentiment which we supposed, if we thought of it at all, was purely fraternal; and then when our minds began to expand, and our affections to assume and to display

    The Cavaliers of Virginia, or the Recluse of Jamestown. An Historical Romance of the Old Dominion. By the author of "The Kentuckian in New-York." In Two Volumes. Vol. I. 1834

  • "This is Mr. French, I believe," he said, turning out of his course to speak to the young man introduced in the last chapter, who, with the same restless, anxious look he then wore, was unobservantly hurrying by the other, on his way to the Court House.

    The Rangers; or, The Tory's Daughter A tale illustrative of the revolutionary history of Vermont D. P. Thompson 1831

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