nescient, a. and n.
(ˈnɛʃ(ɪ)ənt, ˈniːʃ(ɪ)ənt)
[ad. L. nescient-em, pres. pple. of nescīre to be ignorant, f. ne not and scīre to know.]
A. adj. Ignorant. Chiefly const. of.
| 1626 Jackson Creed viii. xii. 118 Infinite knowledge..can neither be ignorant or nescient of anything. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 198 Such a nature, as..is notwithstanding nescient of what it doth. Ibid. v. 899 A Blind and Nescient..Nature. 1881 Palgrave Visions Eng. 158 They 'neath their feet tread nescient pride and fear. 1884 Ruskin Fors Clav. xcv. 257 Only scientific of their..pasture, peacefully nescient of all beyond. |
b. Agnostic; asserting man's necessary ignorance of the ultimate constitution of the universe.
| 1876 J. Martineau Ess. & Addr. (1891) IV. 242 A modern savant, whether of the Nescient or the Omniscient school. |
B. n. An agnostic.
| 1872 W. G. Ward Ess. Philos. Theism (1884) I. 63 A far larger number, of whom Professor Huxley may be taken as representative, are ‘nescients’. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 212 The most eager Nescient or Denier to be found in the ranks of the assailants of theology in our own day. |