omniscient

adjective

om·​ni·​scient äm-ˈni-shənt 

1

: having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight

an omniscient author

the narrator seems an omniscient person who tells us about the characters and their relations

—Ira Konigsberg

2

: possessed of universal or complete knowledge

the omniscient God

omnisciently adverb

Did you know?

What is the origin of omniscient?

One who is omniscient literally knows all. The word omniscient traces back to two Latin roots: omni-, meaning "all" or "universally," and the noun scientia, meaning "knowledge." You will recognize omni- as the prefix that tells all in such words as omnivorous ("eating all," or in actual use, "eating both plants and animals") and omnipotent ("all-powerful"). Scientia comes from the Latin verb scīre, meaning "to know," which likewise has a number of other knowledge-related descendants in English, including conscience, science, and prescience (meaning "foreknowledge").

Examples of omniscient in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Not only that, but far from being omniscient, impersonal and impartial oracles, machine learning results can be heavily conditioned by the quality of the input data and by the assumptions in the machine learning algorithm’s modeling. —Federico Guerrini, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024

Back in 2018, Hale County served as a gentle rebuke to the totalizing, omniscient approach of so many au courant and supposedly objective longitudinal documentaries, movies shot over years that purported to examine and explain the lives of marginalized people. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024

Most recently, Rossellini has enjoyed a streak of scene-stealing supporting turns as the aristocratic mother of Josh O’Connor’s absent lover in La Chimera, the omniscient narrator in Problemista, and a talking shell in A24’s big-screen adaptation of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. —Keaton Bell, Vogue, 22 Nov. 2024

Narrators that seemed close have proved omniscient: Catherine spilling what’s inside Robert’s head and what’s inside her son’s flat, where she’s surely never invited. —Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 11 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

New Latin omniscient-, omnisciens, back-formation from Medieval Latin omniscientia

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

omniscient

adjective

om·​ni·​scient äm-ˈnish-ənt 

: knowing everything

omnisciently adverb

Etymology

from modern Latin omniscient-, omnisciens "knowing all things, all-knowing," derived from omni- (from omnis "all") and scient-, sciens "knowing," from scire "to know" — related to science