INADVERTENCE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Inadvertence

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/ˌɪnədvˈərtəns/ /ˌɪnædvˈərtəns/ Listen

noun

Inadvertency, Inadvertence n.

The quality of being inadvertent; lack of heedfulness or attentiveness; inattention; negligence; as, many mistakes proceed from inadvertence. "Inadvertency, or lack of attendance to the sense and intention of our prayers."

An effect of inattention; a result of carelessness; an oversight, mistake, or fault from negligence. "The productions of a great genius, with many lapses an inadvertencies, are infinitely preferable to works of an inferior kind of author which are scrupulously exact."

Synonyms: Inattention; heedlessness; carelessness; negligence; thoughtlessness. See Inattention.

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Etymology of 'Inadvertence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inadvertence" Quotes from Famous Books

... brutish stupidity only worthy of the lower animals. A man could not be charged with such obtuseness if he were only ignorant of some philosophical truth, or even of a fact commonly known, or if his mistake were clearly from inadvertence. I have heard the question asked "Which is it more correct to say. Seven and five is eleven, or seven and five are eleven?" and if a man reply hastily "Are is the more correct," he could not be charged with having made a "bull," any more than if a boy had made a mistake in ...

— History of English Humour, Vol. 2 (of 2) • Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

... his words,—"is the chastest of all. Even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. The least inadvertence may rob us of the public favor, so hard to be acquired. I reprimand you for having forgotten, that in proportion as you had rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have been guarded and temperate in ...

— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... two-thirds of the surveyed townships, from which circumstance, as well as from the obvious construction of the statute, it is to be inferred that the excessive reservations were made deliberately, and not from mere oversight or inadvertence.[41] ...

— The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion, Volume 1 • John Charles Dent

... character of it, and if it was unmoved by the persuasive influence of "soft soap and sun," she added it to a list which meant knowledge. It is to be hoped that this was often considered an equivalent for the "trouncing" which was the common penalty of accident or inadvertence suffered by the Puritan child. In truth, Solomon's unwholesome caution, "Spare the rod and spoil the child," was all too strictly observed in those conscience-ridden Puritan days. I had a child's lively disapproval of Solomon, since the curse of ...

— The Development of Embroidery in America • Candace Wheeler

... such a mistake, if it be one, might have arisen. Even in Shakespeare, the speeches in the early editions are in many instances wrongly divided, and assigned to the wrong persons. It might have arisen from inadvertence; it might have arisen from the foolishness of some Jewish transcriber, who resolved, at all costs, to drag the book into harmony with Judaism, and make Job unsay his heresy. This view has the merit of fully ...

— Short Studies on Great Subjects • James Anthony Froude

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