&c adj.; oversight; inadvertence, inadvertency, nonobservance,
disregard.
supineness &c (inactivity) 683; etourderie [Fr.], want of thought;
heedlessness &c (neglect) 460; insouciance &c (indifference) 866.
abstraction; absence of mind, absorption of mind; preoccupation,
distraction, reverie, brown study, deep musing, fit of abstraction.
V. be inattentive &c adj.; overlook, disregard; pass by &c (neglect)
460; not observe &c 457; think little of.
close one's eyes to, shut one's eyes to; pay no attention to;
dismiss from one's thoughts, discard from one's thoughts, discharge
from one's thoughts, dismiss from one's mind, discard from one's mind,
discharge from one's mind; drop the subject, think no more of; set
aside, turn aside, put aside; turn away from, turn one's attention
from, turn a deaf ear to, turn one's back upon.
abstract oneself, dream, indulge in reverie.
escape notice, escape attention; come in at one ear and go out at
the other; forget &c (have no remembrance) 506.
call off the attention, draw off the attention, call away the
attention, divert the attention, distract the mind; put out of one's
head; disconcert, discompose; put out, confuse, perplex, bewilder,
moider†, fluster, muddle, dazzle; throw a sop to Cerberus.
Adj. inattentive; unobservant, unmindful, heedless, unthinking,
unheeding, undiscerning†; inadvertent; mindless, regardless,
respectless†, listless &c (indifferent) 866; blind, deaf; bird-witted;
hand over head; cursory, percursory†; giddy-brained, scatter-brained,
hare-brained; unreflective, unreflecting†, ecervele [Fr.]; offhand;
dizzy, muzzy†, brainsick†; giddy, giddy as a goose; wild, harum-scarum,
rantipole†, highflying; heedless, careless &c (neglectful) 460.
inconsiderate, thoughtless.
absent, abstracted, distrait; absentminded, lost; lost in thought,
wrapped in thought; rapt, in the clouds, bemused; dreaming on other
things, musing on other things; preoccupied, engrossed &c (attentive)
457; daydreaming, in a reverie &c n.; off one's guard &c (inexpectant)
508 [Obs.]; napping; dreamy; caught napping.
disconcerted, distracted, put out &c v..
Adv. inattentively, inadvertently, absent-mindedly &c adj.†; per
incuriam [Lat.], sub silentio [Lat.].
Int. stand at ease, stand easy!,
Phr. the attention wanders; one's wits gone a woolgathering, one's wits
gone a bird's nesting; it never entered into one's head; the mind
running on other things; one's thoughts being elsewhere; had it been a
bear it would have bitten you.