Omnisciently

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that reveals unwavering knowledge and insight into every detail of events and experiences
2. Characterized by a complete and unbounded awareness that comprehensively understands all circumstances and facts
3. In a manner that conveys a total understanding of everything occurring and the interrelations between various elements within any situation

Etymology: "Omnisciently" is simply "omniscient" with the adverbial ending "-ly" attached, so its story is really the story of the ending. The "-ly" comes from Old English "-līċe," which itself grew from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "body" or "form," so an adverb like this one is, at root, a description of how something looks or is shaped. Over the centuries "-līċe" wore down to the Middle English "-ly" we use today, and it became the usual way to turn an adjective into an adverb. The base word, "omniscient," is older and more deliberate. It combines Latin "omnis" ("all") with "scient," from "sciens," the present participle of "scire" ("to know"), and it describes knowledge of everything. Because "omniscient" is a formal term, its adverb is uncommon in everyday speech and mostly appears in discussions of narrative perspective, where a story's narrator can be described as seeing all events omnisciently.

Synonyms: all-knowing, all-seeing