knowledge
Pluralknowledges (some meanings)
Pluralknowledges (some meanings)
Formsknowledges, knowledging, knowledged
- 1What you know and understand about something, from learning or experience.
Like a map in your head that helps you find your way.
Her knowledge of the city helped them find the hotel quickly.
He has a good knowledge of how engines work.
UsageSay knowledge of something.
Similarunderstanding, familiarity, grasp
Oppositeignorance
- 2All the facts and information that people have learned over time.
Like a giant library that holds everything people have ever learned.
Books help pass human knowledge from one age to the next.
Science adds to our knowledge every year.
Similarlearning, information (entry), wisdom
- 3The state of being aware of a fact, often after being told about it.
She had no knowledge of the change to the schedule.
The manager acted without knowledge of what had happened.
UsageSay without her knowledge or no knowledge of it.
Similarawareness, cognizance
Oppositeignorance, unawareness
- 4A subject or area of learning, or a single thing that can be known.
The book compares local knowledges of farming from many countries.
Every culture has its own knowledges about plants and healing.
UsageHere you can say knowledges.
Similarscience, discipline, field, branch
Note
Less common meanings
- 5News or information that someone has about something.
Note
- 6In philosophy, traditionally, a belief that is true and that you have good reasons to hold.
Like being right because you checked, not because you got lucky.
Philosophers say knowledge is more than a lucky guess that turns out right.
For something to count as knowledge, your belief must be true.
Note
- 7Sex between two people, now found mostly in the phrase carnal knowledge.
The old law punished any man who had carnal knowledge of a girl under a set age.
He denied carnal knowledge of the woman in court.
Note
- 8The detailed memory of London's streets and landmarks that taxi drivers must learn.
Like having a full map of a huge city stored in your head.
He spent three years learning the knowledge before he could drive a cab.
Passing the knowledge takes most cabbies years of study.
UsageSay the knowledge: learn the knowledge.
Note
- 9The act of admitting or accepting that something is true.
Note
- 10To admit or confess that something is true.
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)Here, knoledging means confessing or admitting.Note
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Old English cnāwelǣċ, made from cnāwan, meaning "to know," and an ending that forms nouns.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Knowledge ultimately derives from Old English cnāwelǣċ. en.wiktionary.org
- The formation combines cnāwan, meaning to know, with a noun-forming ending. en.wiktionary.org