knowing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of know.

   Knowing the risks, the climbers turned back before the storm hit.

   Knowing exactly what she wanted made the meeting short.

   Note

   The -ing form of know does two jobs. It opens participial clauses (knowing the risks, they turned back), and it acts as a gerund in subject position (knowing what she wanted made the meeting short). The same spelling has also become an adjective that compares, with more knowing and most knowing, and a noun that takes a plural, knowings.

2. 2
   adjective

   Suggesting that one has private knowledge or shares a hidden understanding with someone.

   Her knowing nod told everyone she had guessed the surprise.

   The actor delivered the line with a knowing pause that hinted at more.

   Similarmeaningful, conspiratorial, significant, arch

   Note

   Here the knowledge is signaled rather than stated. The word attaches to smiles, nods, glances and pauses, gestures that pass between people who share something unspoken. A knowing smile exchanged by two characters implies a common secret. Set it beside the "shrewd" meaning, which praises a person's sharpness; this sense describes an expression, not a mind.

3. 3
   adjective

   Well informed and intelligent, with real understanding of a subject or situation.

   Knowing critics praised the film for details casual viewers would miss.

   He answered every question with the calm confidence of a knowing expert.

   Similarknowledgeable, informed, learned, astute

   Oppositeignorant, uninformed

   Note

   Built simply from know plus -ing, the participle settled into an adjective for the person who knows. Robert South pairs it with intelligent in "the knowing and intelligent part of the world," using it for people of real understanding. Keep it apart from the "knowing smile" meaning: a knowing critic actually has knowledge, while a knowing look only hints that someone does.

4. 4
   adjective

   Shrewd or showing clever awareness; discerning and quick to read a situation.

   A knowing buyer can spot a repainted car within seconds.

   His knowing questions exposed the weak points in the proposal.

   Similarshrewd, astute, perceptive, discerning, canny

   Oppositenaive, gullible

5. 5
   adjective

   Done deliberately and on purpose; intentional rather than accidental.

   The court found a knowing breach of the contract's terms.

   His knowing disregard for safety procedures led to the accident.

   Similardeliberate, intentional, willful, conscious

   Oppositeunintentional, accidental, inadvertent, unwitting

6. 6
   preposition

   Used to introduce a judgment that follows from what one already knows about a person or situation.

   Knowing my luck, the one day I leave early is the day she calls.

   Knowing the boss, he'll want the report rewritten twice before Friday.

   Similargiven

   Note

   The participle has frozen into a fixed opener: knowing you, knowing my luck, knowing the boss. The knower is always the speaker, even when the main clause has a different subject, as in "Knowing you, you would try not to be late." That is why it reads as idiomatic rather than as a dangling participle. It usually introduces a prediction about how someone will behave.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The act or condition of possessing knowledge or understanding.

   True wisdom blends knowing with the humility to admit doubt.

   The novel explores the gap between believing and genuine knowing.

   Similarknowledge, understanding, awareness, cognition

   Oppositeignorance

   Note

   Philosophy makes this a countable noun. Gilbert Ryle's The Concept of Mind (1949) sets knowings in a row with perceivings, apprehendings and intuitings to argue that sensations are none of these. The plural turns a state of mind into separate acts that can be listed and compared. Everyday use keeps it uncountable, usually set against believing or doubting.

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