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unawareness

unawareness

2 5.4
Not knowing or noticing something
  • noun
  • /ˌʌnəˈwɛrnəs/
translation icon : desconocimiento
  • His unawareness of the problem led to a series of mistakes at work.
  • general unawareness
  • hypoglycaemia unawareness

But what happens if you, maybe you've by chance lead a life of blissful, you know, unawareness for years and years and years?

Examples

  • I see it rather as a complete unawareness of the US as an empire.

    Blog text (24)
  • Presumably, this lack of use is the result of unawareness on the part of those who could benefit from the solution.

    Academic text (1992)
  • You will not because you do not want to discover your own unawareness.

    Blog text (26)
  • During the first two years of the Belaunde administration, there was a general unawareness of the type of organization and aims that Sendero represented.

    Academic text (1991)
  • In general, racial identity development begins with a state of unawareness, then moves to the beginnings of awareness and to the experience of strong emotions about themselves and each other.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The reasons for this include inadequate referral rates from optometrists and ophthalmologists, a general unawareness among the visually impaired concerning the availability of services, and financial and physical barriers.

    Academic text (2006)
  • But through incongruencies between utterance and context, Titus reveals his unawareness of his thought process and his blindness to his own resulting egoism and barbarity.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Many people live in unawareness of the environmental issues surrounding them.

  • The child's unawareness of danger made her run into the street without looking.

Synonyms

ignorance
vsunawareness
316 3.9

Not knowing about something or how it works

stresses the not noticing side as well as missing knowledge
inattention
vsunawareness
8 4.6

Not noticing things around you

is broader, covering not knowing as well as not paying attention
cluelessness
vsunawareness
5 4.2

Not knowing what to do or how something works

is more neutral, covering simple lack of notice or knowledge
obliviousness
vsunawareness
2 7.4

Not noticing things happening around you

can be milder, covering lack of notice as well as ignorance
blindness to
vsunawareness
1 5.7

Not noticing or understanding something important

is less about denial and more about simply not noticing or knowing
inadvertence
vsunawareness
1 9.3

Not paying attention causes mistakes

is a neutral state of not knowing or not noticing without blame
incognizance
vsunawareness
9.9

Not knowing about something

focuses more on not noticing or not knowing in everyday situations
noncognizance
vsunawareness
9.9

Not being aware of a fact or change

is broader, covering both not knowing and not noticing
unknowingness
vsunawareness
8.6

Being unaware of something

adds an emphasis on also failing to notice things around you
noncomprehension
vsunawareness
8.1

A lack of understanding of instructions or ideas

is about lacking knowledge or notice rather than failing to understand
unenlightenment
vsunawareness
9.7

A state of not knowing or understanding things

is more neutral and can include not noticing as well as ignorance
impercipience
vsunawareness
9.9

A lack of awareness of what is happening

is broader, also meaning simple lack of factual knowledge
unmindfulness
vsunawareness
8.6

Lack of attention that makes you forget or ignore tasks

is more general, covering both not noticing and lacking knowledge

Antonyms

336 3.2

Knowing about something or noticing it

How Aware

knowledge
1.0
understanding
871 1.1
awareness
336 3.2
unawareness
2 5.4
ignorance
316 3.9

Surface Forms

unawareness singular
unawarenesses plural

Morphology

unawareness = unaware (transparent) = un + aware + ness

Formed by a standard nominalization of the adjective 'unaware' with '-ness'; the meaning is directly predictable from 'aware' + 'un-'.

Etymology

Unawareness comes from the prefix un- meaning 'not' and aware, which comes from an old English word meaning 'watchful' (you can see the same root in beware). So, unawareness is simply the state of 'not' noticing or knowing about something.