Meanings
plural agnoses
- 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 648They 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 308The 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, →ISBNSynonyms: agnosticism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounEpistemologically necessary lack of, indifference to, denial or shunning of knowledge; defective knowledge.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀ-“without, lacking”
- Englishagnosis
Derived from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “without, lacking”) + γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), literally, “lacking knowledge”.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Portuguese agnose
- agnoselack, denial or indifference to knowledge
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
agnosis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis
“agnosis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “agnosis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agnosis.
Source: agnosis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.