omniscient
adjective
Ira Konigsberg
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What is the origin of omniscient?
One who is omniscient literally knows all. The word omniscient combines two Latin roots: omni-, meaning "all" or "universally," and the verb scire, meaning "to know." 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"). Scire likewise has a number of other knowledge-related descendants in English, including conscience, science, and prescience (meaning "foreknowledge").
Examples of omniscient in a Sentence
Stephen Kearse, The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2024
The Abrahamic faiths conceive of God as an omniscient creator and generally abjure gambling as a result; one of the first laws passed by the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned the possession of cards, dice, or gaming tables.
—Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024
My brother, using the mechanics afforded to him in his omniscient role, prolonged Fletcher’s story by magically reviving him.
—Ally Beardsley, Washington Post, 31 July 2024
Hayek feared the rise of the omniscient economic oracle: a laurate at once whispering into leaders’ ears and shouting at the public even as their predictions remain largely guesswork.
—Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak and Paul Swartz, TIME, 31 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for omniscient 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'omniscient.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Omniscient.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omniscient. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
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
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