I came across the word omniscient today which is not a word I’ve seen before, but once I started my research I realised that there are many words that begin with omni. So, I’ll begin with that definition.
Omni- (the combining form of the Latin word omnis) means ‘all’ or ‘every’ according to Wikipedia and is used to form compound words such as the following:
- Omniscient means knowing all things or “having complete or unlimited knowledge” (source: dictionary.reference.com).
- Omnificent is an adjective meaning “unlimited in creative power” according to Merriam-Webster.com and its first known use was in 1677.
- Omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and other animals (wiki.answers.com).
- Omnipresent means present everywhere (omni is described by macmillondictionary.com as meaning ‘everywhere’ or ‘everything’).
- Omnipotent means powerful over everything (source: macmillondictionary.com).
That’s all for today. Please leave me a comment if you know of any other words with the prefix omni. Thank you.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
Freelance Writer
www.sandramadeira.com
Related articles
- Prefixes (editorspen.wordpress.com)
My Writing Notebook 
Interesting, Sandra. Due to my grad school work years back, I came across “Omniscient” somewhat frequently.
I wonder where you came across it(?).
Posted by Bill | January 7, 2012, 12:22 amGreat post. I enjoyed reading your blog today.
If you love to write we would love for you to join us!
Writer Jobs
Posted by Writing Jobs | January 7, 2012, 7:19 amHi
I may take you up on that at some point. Thanks for the comment
Sandra
Posted by Sandra Madeira | January 7, 2012, 5:30 pmHi Bill
I sometimes get emails from work colleagues asking if I’ve covered certain topics on this blog. They sent me this link http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198638
Thanks for the comment.
Sandra
Posted by Sandra Madeira | January 7, 2012, 5:29 pm@Sandra,
What I found funny is a sort of joke on me: I totally missed the point that omniscient might refer to the omniscient viewpoint, when the author is sort of godlike and gets to be relatively “all-knowing.” I read that word in your post and immediately thought theologically!
Great to see you getting so many comments.
Posted by Bill Polm | January 7, 2012, 10:09 pmIt’s funny how a word just doesn’t seem to click sometimes – your comment has helped me understand it better as well. Thank you
Posted by Sandra Madeira | January 8, 2012, 5:59 pmI’d never heard the word “omniscient” until Emma Darwin looked at the first 3000 words of a novel I was working on. I wrote 65,000 words in the omniscient POV. It doesn’t really work with short stories (IMO) but I love using it for longer pieces 🙂
Xx
Posted by Vikki | January 7, 2012, 9:00 pmThanks for the comment Vikki – hope you are having a good day 🙂
Posted by Sandra Madeira | January 8, 2012, 6:02 pm