oblivion

noun

obliv·​i·​on ə-ˈbli-vē-ən 

ō-,

ä-

1

: the fact or condition of not remembering : a state marked by lack of awareness or consciousness

seeking the oblivion of sleep

drank herself into oblivion

2

: the condition or state of being forgotten or unknown

contentedly accepted his political oblivion

… took the Huskers from oblivion to glory—and their two national championships …

—D. S. Looney

Did you know?

Oblivion and the River Lethe

Oblivion asks forgetfulness of us in both its meaning and etymology. The word’s Latin source, oblīvīscī, means “to forget; to put out of mind,” and since its 14th century adoption into English, oblivion has hewed close to meanings having to do with forgetting. The word has also long had an association with the River Lethe, which according to Greek myth flowed through the Underworld and caused anyone who drank its water to forget their past; 17th century poet John Milton wrote about “Lethe the River of Oblivion” in Paradise Lost. The adjective oblivious (“lacking remembrance, memory, or mindful attention”) followed oblivion a century later, but not into oblivion—both words have proved obdurate against the erosive currents of time.

Synonyms

• forgetfulness
• nirvana
• obliviousness

Examples of oblivion in a Sentence

The technology is destined for oblivion.

The names of the people who lived here long ago have faded into oblivion.

His theories have faded into scientific oblivion.

Her work was rescued from oblivion when it was rediscovered in the early 1900s.

After being awake for three days straight, he longed for the oblivion of sleep.

She drank herself into oblivion.

The little village was bulldozed into oblivion to make way for the airport.

Recent Examples on the Web

And, whereas during the first Trump term there was enough chaos and resistance inside the government that some of Trump’s more damaging impulses—to withdraw from NATO, for example—could be slow-walked into oblivion, this time around was different. —Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2025

Once again, her stern words earned tepid applause from a crowd that honestly just wanted to go two hours without thinking about humanity's downward trajectory into civil, moral, and environmental oblivion. —Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 24 Feb. 2025

Rappelling down feels like stepping into an open void, with nothing but a thin rope keeping you from a freefall into oblivion. —Scott Travers, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2025

Last spring, a bipartisan group of Georgia lawmakers introduced bills in both the House and Senate to allow Medicaid expansion and let Pathways sink into oblivion. —Margaret Coker, ProPublica, 19 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English oblivioun, borrowed from Anglo-French oblivion, obliviun, borrowed from Latin oblīviōn-, oblīviō "state of forgetting, dismissal from the memory," from oblīv-, stem of oblīvīscī "to forget, put out of mind" (from ob- "toward, facing" + -līvīscī, inchoative derivative of a stem līv- of uncertain meaning and origin) + -iōn-, -iō, suffix of action nouns formed from compound verbs — more at ob-

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for oblivion

• vivian
• vivien

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Kids Definition

oblivion

noun

obliv·​i·​on ə-ˈbliv-ē-ən 

ō-,

ä-

1

: the state of forgetting or having forgotten or of being unaware or unconscious

2

: the state of being forgotten