From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishobliviono‧bliv‧i‧on /əˈblɪviən/ noun [uncountable] 1 FORGETwhen something is completely forgotten or no longer importantsink/slip/pass etc into oblivion Wind power presents too many advantages to be allowed to sink into oblivion. The loser’s name has been consigned to oblivion (=completely forgotten).2 UNCONSCIOUSthe state of being unconscious or of not noticing what is happening the oblivion of sleep He had drunk himself into oblivion.COLLOCATIONSverbsfade into oblivion (=gradually become forgotten or no longer important)Many political figures just fade into oblivion.sink/slip/slide into oblivion (=fade into oblivion)It was once a popular game, but it has since sunk into oblivion.The old machines eventually slid into oblivion.consign something/somebody to oblivion formal (=make something or someone be completely forgotten, or to become unimportant)The achievements of these years should not be consigned to oblivion.save somebody/something from oblivionThe charity has saved many fine old buildings from oblivion.adjectivespolitical oblivion (=used to say that something is forgotten in politics)The party attracted little support and collapsed into political oblivion.instant oblivion (=used to say that something or someone is forgotten immediately)His first album led to instant oblivion.phrasesbe on the road to oblivion (=to be becoming forgotten or unimportant over a fairly long period of time)Is this ancient tradition on the road to oblivion?
Examples from the Corpus
oblivion• Death and oblivion were down there, waiting for the movie to be over.• And by the end of the war, the issue had fallen into oblivion.• A few hours of oblivion probably, but failing that, Faber.• This city forgets the good with the bad; all are consigned to the same oblivion.• They were not dropped into the oblivion of the Gulag archipelago or the Lubianka.• The provisions of the Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution and various related statutes were relegated to oblivion.• A much more flexible and pro-active strategy was needed, unless Labour was to pass into total oblivion.• It loomed over the Angara River like a great rectangular tombstone, moldering toward oblivion in stunning disrepair.• CDs continue to push vinyl records toward oblivion.consigned to oblivion• If the achievements of the Thatcher years were not to be consigned to oblivion, then a tactical retreat was necessary.• Their works have disappeared as a result, and there are many more interesting things that have been consigned to oblivion.• Memoirs from the twenties, for long consigned to oblivion, began to be used again.Origin oblivion (1300-1400) Old French Latin oblivio, from oblivisci “to forget” 