Oblivious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈblɪviːəs/

Definitions

1. Completely unaware or unmindful of what is happening around oneself or of particular facts or circumstances
2. Unaware of or indifferent to one's surroundings or specific details, often resulting in a lack of attention to events or people in proximity
3. Being completely unmindful of external situations or the feelings of others, leading to a disconnection from reality

Etymology: Forgetting, in Latin, was not always a passive lapse. The verb "oblivisci" meant "to forget," and from it came "oblivium," meaning forgetfulness or oblivion, a noun that gave English its own word for the state of being forgotten. Add the Latin suffix "-osus," which means "full of" or "prone to," and you get "oblivious": someone so full of forgetting that nothing else registers. The English adjective arrived in Middle English, borrowed through the Latin "oblivriosus" form used by writers who wanted a more precise word than "forgetful." Its meaning has since narrowed. Where the Latin sense was simply about memory failing, English speakers now use "oblivious" almost exclusively for a lack of awareness of what is happening around you, as in someone "oblivious to the traffic."

Synonyms: unaware, ignorant, insensible

Antonyms: aware, conscious