inapprehension

inapprehension

English

Etymology

in- +‎ apprehension

Noun

inapprehension (uncountable)

1. (rare) Failure to notice; failure to be aware of; lack of apprehension.
   • 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Purloined Letter":

     These, like the over-largely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably self-evident.

   • 1909, Raphael Sabatini, St Martin's Summer (2008 edition), →ISBN, p. 29:

     He paled a little, and sucked his lip, his eyes wandering to the girl, who stood in stolid inapprehension of what was being said.

   • 1966, Paul J. Sharits, "Red, Blue, Godard," Film Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 4, p. 27:

     Camile is naturally disgusted with Paul but he doesn't seem to apprehend her reason—it is this inapprehension of the obvious which creates the tension.

References

• inapprehension at OneLook Dictionary Search