knowledge

Less common meanings

5. 5
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   Information or intelligence about something; notice or word of an event.

   Note

   Here the word meant news sent or received rather than understanding, and it went with give. In Edward Hayes's account of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's 1583 voyage, ships answer a light "to give knowledge that they have seen her token." Modern English would say give notice or give word. Compare the "awareness" meaning, where the noun means being informed rather than informing. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Knowledge had an obsolete sense meaning information, intelligence or notice. en.wiktionary.org
   • Edward Hayes wrote an account of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's voyage of 1583; 1583 identifies the voyage, not the account's publication. gutenberg.org
   • The account contains instructions for answering a ship's light with another light. gutenberg.org
   • The quoted wording occurs exactly and illustrates the combination give knowledge. en.wiktionary.org
   • The separate awareness sense describes being informed. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   justified beliefnoununcountable

   In philosophy, on the traditional account, belief that is both true and justified by adequate reasons.

   On the traditional view, knowledge requires truth, belief, and justification together.

   A correct guess does not amount to knowledge without justification.

   Note

   Philosophers break this sense into three conditions, and each one does work. A belief that is true but unjustified, like a lucky guess, falls short. So does a well-justified belief that turns out to be false. On the traditional account a belief counts as knowledge only when all three meet, a standard far narrower than everyday understanding. Since Edmund Gettier's 1963 examples of justified true beliefs that are right only by luck, philosophers have debated whether the three are enough. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The traditional account requires three conditions: belief, truth, and justification. gwern.net
   • Under this account, an unjustified true belief, such as a lucky guess, is insufficient for knowledge. en.wikipedia.org
   • A justified belief that is false does not qualify as knowledge under this account. plato.stanford.edu
   • Edmund Gettier published his challenge to the traditional account in 1963. en.wikipedia.org
   • Gettier's examples involve justified true beliefs whose truth depends on luck. en.wikipedia.org
   • Gettier's examples prompted continuing philosophical debate about the sufficiency of the three conditions. en.wikipedia.org
7. 7
   sexnounarchaicuncountable

   Sexual intimacy or intercourse, now chiefly surviving in the legal phrase carnal knowledge.

   The indictment charged him with carnal knowledge of the complainant.

   Witnesses swore the couple had carnal knowledge of each other before the marriage was recorded.

   Note

   In older prose the bare noun could carry the meaning by itself: George Gascoigne in 1573 writes of a man who, each time he "had knowledge of her," left money behind. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The cited prose by George Gascoigne was published in 1573. pseudopodium.org
   • Gascoigne describes a man leaving money whenever he had sexual intercourse with his wife; the quoted wording is accurate in modernized spelling. pseudopodium.org
8. 8
   nouncolloquialUKuncountable

   The deep familiarity with London's routes and notable places that licensed taxi drivers must master.

   Every London cabbie must pass the knowledge before earning a license.

   To become a London cab driver, he spent nearly three years mastering the Knowledge, street by street.

   UsageWith the, often with a capital K: pass the Knowledge.

   Note

   Malcolm Bobbitt's history of the London cab, Taxi!, describes would-be cabbies memorizing the runs by following them on foot, by cycle or by motorcycle during evenings and weekends. That is how the knowledge is built. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Malcolm Bobbitt wrote the London cab history Taxi!. veloce.co.uk
   • Bobbitt describes candidates memorizing routes by travelling them on foot, bicycle or motorcycle during evenings and weekends. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   Acknowledgement, or the act of admitting and recognizing something as true.

   Note

   The admitting sense is related to the Middle English verb knowlechen, "to find out, acknowledge," whose story is linked to the everyday sense. It has fallen out of use entirely. Where older texts use this word for confession or recognition, modern English says acknowledgement. Using it this way today would read as a mistake rather than an archaism. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The noun descends from Middle English knoweleche/knowleche, ultimately from Old English cnāwelǣċ, meaning acknowledgement. The Middle English verb is related, rather than its stated direct ancestor. en.wiktionary.org
   • The related Middle English verb means to find out or acknowledge. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbobsolete

    To confess or admit something as true; to acknowledge it.

    Then went oute to hym Jerusalem, and all Jury, and all the region rounde aboute Jordan, and were baptised of hym in Jordan, knoledging their synnes.

    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)

    Note

    The verb took regular endings, knowledging and knowledged. William Tyndale's 1526 New Testament uses it when the crowds John baptizes in the Jordan are knowledging, or confessing, their sins. It continues the Middle English knowlechen related to the everyday noun, and it has since given way completely to acknowledge, which is the verb to use now. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The verb knowledge had the regular forms knowledging and knowledged. en.wiktionary.org
    • William Tyndale's complete New Testament was first published in 1526. en.wikipedia.org
    • Tyndale's 1526 New Testament uses the verb for people confessing their sins while John baptizes them in the Jordan; its spelling is knoledging. archive.org
    • The verb continues a Middle English verb, also spelled knowelechen. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Middle English verb is related to the noun knowledge. en.wiktionary.org