unobservance

English

Etymology

un- +‎ observance

Noun

unobservance (uncountable)

1. Lack or neglect of observance.
   • 1654, Richard Whitlock, Zootomia; Or, Observations on the Present Manners of the English:

     Among those uncontrouleable Levellers of the World, Fate, or Fortune, (in the Profane Lexicon, and in the Christians undiscovered Providence) may passe for the first; Opinion, and Time (or the Grave) for the other two. The two first require the more serious inquiry into, for the universality of their Power (and yet generall unobservance of it) and usefulnesse of its Contemplation in the occurences of life; the third is not lesse usefull, but a more common Theme, and so needs the lesse Descant.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “unobservance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)