agnosis

ag·no·sis
A1G2N1O1S1I1S1
UK/æɡˈnəʊsɪs/

noun

Epistemologically necessary lack of, indifference to, denial or shunning of knowledge; defective knowledge.

Opposite
Scrabble 8

Meanings

nounagnosis (countable and uncountable, plural agnoses)

plural agnoses

  1. countableuncountableEpistemologically necessary lack of, indifference to, denial or shunning of knowledge; defective knowledge.

    And finally, we come to the agnosis, the most important of them all, […] I do not refer to the agnosis or the ignorance of cancer in general.

    1915: The American Journal of Surgery, volume 29, page 379 (Paul B. Hoeber)
    3 more examples

    For instance he cannot tell the time on the clock, since that depends on the relation of the direction of the hands to each other. This inability to differentiate the directions in relation to each other is a possible cause of optical agnosis. There is a direction element in the form of every object.

    1934, the New York Neurological Association, the Philadelphia Neurological Society, and the Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, volume 80, page 648

    They point out that unilateral spatial agnosis is not the sole cause of the disability, and that some degree of bilateral cerebral involvement may be an […]

    1963, Samuel Brock, Howard P. Krieger, The Basis of Clinical Neurology: The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in Their Application to Clinical Neurology, 4th edition, Williams & Wilkins, page 308

    The situation of the person who denies that metaphysical objectivity that is essential to the very idea of truth is not only one of self-contradiction, but of permanent agnosis.

    2005, Paul J. Griffiths, Reinhard Hütter, Reason and the Reasons of Faith, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 331, →ISBN

    Synonyms: agnosticism

Synonyms & antonyms

nounEpistemologically necessary lack of, indifference to, denial or shunning of knowledge; defective knowledge.

Opposite

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἀ-“without, lacking”
  2. Englishagnosis

Derived from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “without, lacking”) + γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), literally, “lacking knowledge”.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Portuguese agnose
  • agnoselack, denial or indifference to knowledge

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

agnosis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis

MLA

“agnosis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “agnosis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis.

Source: agnosis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.