cognizant

cog·ni·zant

adjective \ˈkäg-nə-zənt\

Definition of COGNIZANT

: knowledgeable of something especially through personal experience; also : mindful

Examples of COGNIZANT

1. He is cognizant of his duties as a father.
2. <not fully cognizant of the details of the trade agreement>
3. Not like some college kid beaming in blissful ignorance, but rather like a worldly 23-year-old, self-aware and fully cognizant of the dire straits he's entering. —Jody Berger, ESPN, 14 June 1999
4. … to assure you that I am neither privy to, nor cognizant of, any such clique; and that I most potently disbelieve in the existence of any such. —Abraham Lincoln, letter, 13 Oct. 1849
5. … the idea of a machine cognizant of that human Achilles' heel, emotion, can conjure more sinister images—like HAL, the savvy, menacing computer in “2001,” whose fear that he would be unplugged led him to kill all but one of the crew members on a space mission. —Daniel Goleman, New York Times, 7 Jan. 1997

Origin of COGNIZANT

(see cognizance)

First Known Use: 1820

Related to COGNIZANT

Synonyms

alive, apprehensive, aware, conscious, mindful, sensible, sentient, ware, witting

Antonyms

insensible, oblivious, unaware, unconscious, unmindful, unwitting

Related Words

alert, attentive, careful, cautious, heedful, observant, open-eyed, regardful, safe, vigilant, wary, watchful, wide-awake; hyperaware, hyperconscious

Near Antonyms

careless, heedless, inattentive, incautious, mindless, unguarded, unheeding, unwary

See Synonym Discussion at aware