ENGLISH
REFERENCE

oblivious

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //əˈbɫɪviəs// UK //əblˈɪvɪəs// obliv·i·ous Archaic

adj. not noticing what is happening around you. You use this when someone is completely unaware of a situation or a problem.

adj. lacking conscious awareness or mindful attention to one's surroundings or a specific situation. Often used predicatively after linking verbs like 'seem' or 'remain'.


SIMPLE

He was oblivious to the rain and kept reading his book.

CONTEXTUAL

The driver seemed completely oblivious to the flashing lights in his rearview mirror until the siren started.

COMPLEX

While the rest of the world reacted with shock to the news, the small village remained largely oblivious, cut off from modern communication by the storm.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English oblivious, from Latin oblīviōsus (“forgetful, oblivious”), formed from oblīvium (“forgetfulness, oblivion”) + -ōsus (“full of, overly, prone to”), from oblīvīscor (“to forget”).

Usage

Typically takes the preposition 'to' or 'of'.

Pitfall

oblivious about the dangeroblivious to the dangerOblivious is almost always followed by 'to' or 'of', not 'about'.

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