Pick the rare, weird word "nescience" when you want to strike a tone that's serious and philosophical as you describe people's complete lack of understanding about something. That "something" is usually scientific or religious. For example, you might talk about an ancient society's nescience of the planetary bodies. Or you might say that the people of the Akkadian Empire were nescient of dust storms.

How often will you really need to do that? Probably never. But it's fun to know this word anyway.

Still, please use it with care, like you would with any rare, fancy word. Please don't use it as a weapon or as a way to sound smart. What I mean is, don't swap in the word "nescience" when you could just use a simpler, clearer one like "ignorance" or "unawareness." To quote Daniel Kahneman: "If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do... Couching familiar ideas in pretentious language is taken as a sign of poor intelligence and low credibility."

"If modern science, discovering the moon's inferiority to the sun, call the former feminine, ancient nescience, supposing the sun to be inferior to the moon, called the latter masculine."
— Timothy Harley, Moon Lore, 1885

"Science hangs in a void of nescience, a planet turning in the dark. But across that void Faith builds the road that leads to Olympus and the eternal gods."
— G. Lowes Dickinson, A Modern Symposium, 1905

has this page helped you understand "nescience"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "nescience" without saying "ignorance" or "obtuseness."

try it out:

In a medical journal in the 1970s, a writer asserted, "Few will risk displaying nescience by questioning the essential meaning of an incomprehensible statement."

Maybe that's true for most people. Conversely, though, let me show you a passage I've always loved from the book Harriet the Spy:

"I’m going to be a C.P.A."

"What's that?"

"You don't know what a C.P.A. is?" Sport screeched.

"No," said Harriet. She never minded admitting she didn’t know something. So what, she thought; I could always learn.

Do you agree with Harriet? Or do you agree more with the medical journal? Is nescience a weakness or a reason for embarrassment, in your opinion? Or is it easily rectified and, therefore, no cause for embarrassment? 

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is Botched Songs!

Check out the botched lyrics to a holiday song, and see if you can give me the botched title. It'll include a form of a word we've studied before.

For example, if the real song is "Jingle Bell Rock," then the botched one might be "Jingle Quell Rock." Or if the real song is "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas," then the botched one might be "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like a Chrysalis."

If you need some clues, highlight them to reveal them. And to see the answer, scroll all the way down. Your answer might be different than mine but just as good. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

Strong lay the farm,
Toward sun and rain inclining,
'Til it appears
And the crops wilt and die.
   —from "O Holy _____"

Clue 1: The word in the blank means… a disease that kills plants

Clue 2: The word in the blank starts with the letter… B

Clue 3: The word in the blank sounds like… the word "night:" it rhymes with it.

review this word:

1. The opposite of NESCIENCE is

A. PROOF or EVIDENCE.
B. KNOWLEDGE or AWARENESS.
C. QUACKERY or PSEUDOSCIENCE.

2. Reflecting on Ronald Reagan's presidency, a writer for the Washington Post noted that, although Reagan "_____," his supporters cared very little about this nescience.

A. exploited legal loopholes for personal profit
B. spoke as a cutthroat politician from behind his warm smile
C. questioned evolution and asserted that vegetation caused pollution

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. C Answer to the game question: "O Holy Blight"

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.