Literary notes about nescient (AI summary)
In literature, "nescient" is frequently employed as an adjective to denote a lack of knowledge or awareness, often emphasizing a character’s ignorance or unlettered nature. Authors use the term not only to highlight overt intellectual deficiencies—such as being ill-informed or unenlightened as detailed in historical lexicons [1]—but also to inject subtle irony or commentary on social decorum, as seen in passages where a character's cultivated appearance belies an inner obliviousness [2]. Its usage spans both self-reflective criticism [3] and impersonal narration [4], while scholarly texts delve into its etymological evolution from Latin and French roots [5]. Even in critical annotations, "nescient" is apt for describing a character’s unsuitability for certain roles due to an inherent naivety [6].
- ignorant , a. illiterate, inerudite unenlightened, uninformed, unlearned, untaught, uneducated , unlettered, nescient; quackish , charlatanic .
— from Putnam's Word Book A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas Through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary by Louis A. (Louis Andrew) Flemming - But his French breeding triumphed and he remained, except for that one furtive twinkle, the conscientious valet, nescient and urbane.
— from Nightfall by Anthony Pryde - How blind he had been, how nescient of himself!
— from The Tavern Knight by Rafael Sabatini - It is impersonal and therefore nescient of his need.
— from Poetry by Arthur Quiller-Couch - sci-o , I know ; scĭentia , knowledge ; conscius , privy to : science (Fr.), nescient, scientific, conscious, prescience (Fr.), sciolist.
— from The Alberta Public School SpellerAuthorized by the Minister of Education for Alberta by Anonymous - G, which is the work of a clever emendator, gives nescient to suit malent above, and is followed by Baiter.
— from Academica by Marcus Tullius Cicero
