nescience

noun

ne·science ˈne-sh(ē-)ən(t)s

ˈnē-

-sē-ən(t)s

Synonyms of nescience next

: lack of knowledge or awareness : ignorance

nescient

ˈne-sh(ē-)ənt

ˈnē-

-sē-ənt

adjective

Did you know?

Gain Some Knowledge of Nescience

Eighteenth-century British poet, essayist, and lexicographer Samuel Johnson once said, "There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would not rather know it than not know it." He probably knew a thing or two about the history of the word nescience, which evolved from a combination of the Latin prefix ne-, meaning "not," and scire, a verb meaning "to know." And he may also have known that scire is an ancestor of science, a word whose original meaning in English was "knowledge."

Examples of nescience in a Sentence

the appalling nescience of today's high schoolers concerning international affairs

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin nescientia, from Latin nescient-, nesciens, present participle of nescire not to know, from ne- not + scire to know — more at no, science

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of nescience was in 1612

See more words from the same year