unobservantlyadv.
/(ˌ)ʌnəbˈzəːv(ə)ntli/, U.S. /ˌənəbˈzərvən(t)li/ Without due attention, inattentively; unperceptively.In quot. 1733 apparently: without being observed, unobservedly (cf. observant adj. 5).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > [adverb]
unheedily1596
unattentively1611
unheedfullya1616
heedlesslya1682
unobservantly1733
inattentively1748
unheedingly1787
vaguely1828
1733 G. Braithwaite Nation's Reproach 95 Nothing is more fatal to its [sc. Christianity's] Temper than to haunt Taverns and Alehouses, and nothing does more surely (though unobservantly).
1829 J. Lawrence Horse Varieties & Uses xxx. 202 I have travelled the road occasionally, and not unobservantly, under its three regimes.
1868 A. D. Whitney Patience Strong's Outings xvii I have not read the new style of novel and magazine writing unobservantly.
1912 Washington Post 29 Oct. 11/2 Five people unobservantly stepped in his path, and were nearly knocked over.
2000 Speculum 75 792 Southern says, I think unobservantly, Powicke ‘was no longer capable of the intense imaginative and intellectual effort of a long book’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.1733