Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or character of being unobservant; want of observation; inattention. Lack of compliance with the requirements of some law, rule, or ceremony: as, the unobservance of the prescribed forms of old law.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Want or neglect of observance; inobservance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Lack or neglect of
observance .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It was this unobservance of actual features, I imagine, which made me think all gray-haired people alike, and find a difficulty in recognizing those who called, except generically as callers -- people who kissed me, and whom therefore I liked to see.
An Englishwoman's Love-Letters Anonymous
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To Soderini the duke expounded his just grievance, founded upon the Florentines 'unobservance of the treaty of Forno dei Campi; he demanded that a fresh treaty should be drawn up to replace the broken one, and that, for the purpose, Florence should change her government, as in the ruling one, after what had passed, he could repose no faith.
The Life of Cesare Borgia Sabatini, Rafael, 1875-1950 1912
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Florentines 'unobservance of the treaty of Forno dei Campi; he demanded that a fresh treaty should be drawn up to replace the broken one, and that, for the purpose, Florence should change her government, as in the ruling one, after what had passed, he could repose no faith.
The Life of Cesare Borgia Rafael Sabatini 1912
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Incurious unobservance is the true attitude of cordiality, and Somerset blamed himself for having fallen into an act of inspection even briefly.
A Laodicean : a Story of To-day Thomas Hardy 1884
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In almost every instance where the Americans suffered defeat, the misfortune was due to a want of proper caution -- an unobservance of some of the simplest rules of military prudence.
The Life of Francis Marion Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870 1844
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