cognizant

adjective

cog·​ni·​zant ˈkäg-nə-zənt 

1

: knowledgeable of something especially through personal experience

also : mindful

acutely cognizant of the potential dangers

… they should have been a little more cognizant of what the airport's needs would be.

—Tom Gougeon, quoted in The Denver Post

2

: having responsibility or jurisdiction

the cognizant agency

That recommendation and a proposal to enhance services … have been forwarded to cognizant committees …

—Stanley Kirschner

Synonyms of cognizant

• aware

Choose the Right Synonym for cognizant

aware, cognizant, conscious, sensible, alive, awake mean having knowledge of something.

aware implies vigilance in observing or alertness in drawing inferences from what one experiences.

aware of changes in climate

cognizant implies having special or certain knowledge as from firsthand sources.

not fully cognizant of the facts

conscious implies that one is focusing one's attention on something or is even preoccupied by it.

conscious that my heart was pounding

sensible implies direct or intuitive perceiving especially of intangibles or of emotional states or qualities.

sensible of a teacher's influence

alive adds to sensible the implication of acute sensitivity to something.

alive to the thrill of danger

awake implies that one has become alive to something and is on the alert.

a country always awake to the threat of invasion

Examples of cognizant in a Sentence

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

… 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

… 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

He is cognizant of his duties as a father.

not fully cognizant of the details of the trade agreement

Recent Examples on the Web

Gaspafotos/Getty Images His team selection against Forest suggests the head coach is cognizant of Tottenham’s declining effectiveness as a set-piece animal. — Elias Burke, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Huby is cognizant of reality and recognizes there could be delays in these timelines. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026

The CrossHarbor team appears cognizant of the weight of legacy with a track that has produced lifetimes of memories over its 72-year history. — Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 9 Sep. 2026

That means being cognizant of first-timers who have never been to Citi Field, fans who never miss a game and casual fans in between. — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 7 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

cogniz(ance) + -ant entry 2

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined at sense 1