knowledge

noun knowl·edge \ˈnä-lij\

: information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education

: awareness of something : the state of being aware of something

Full Definition of KNOWLEDGE

obsolete : cognizance

a (1) : the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (2) : acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique

b (1) : the fact or condition of being aware of something (2) : the range of one's information or understanding <answered to the best of my knowledge>

c : the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning : cognition

d : the fact or condition of having information or of being learned <a person of unusual knowledge>

archaic : sexual intercourse

a : the sum of what is known : the body of truth, information, and principles acquired by humankind

b archaic : a branch of learning

See knowledge defined for English-language learners

See knowledge defined for kids

Examples of KNOWLEDGE

At that time the word science had not been narrowed down to one kind of knowledge; it meant whatever was known, and men of learning were still able to possess most of it. —Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, 2000
With their aid, he should be able to adapt himself selectively to his culture, rejecting its evils, stupidities and irrelevances, gratefully accepting all its treasures of accumulated knowledge … and practical wisdom. —Aldous Huxley, “Culture and the … ,” in Artificial Paradises,Mike Jay editor, 1999
The knowledge of the godawful way people act (their greed, their vicarious or direct violence), and of the youth and helplessness of those who died, leads to shame … —Harold Brodkey, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 1995
[+]more [-]hide

Origin of KNOWLEDGE

Middle English knowlege, from knowlechen to acknowledge, irregular from knowen

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to KNOWLEDGE

Synonyms: lore, science, wisdom

Antonyms: ignorance, illiteracy, illiterateness

Synonym Discussion of KNOWLEDGE

knowledge, learning, erudition, scholarship mean what is or can be known by an individual or by humankind. knowledge applies to facts or ideas acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience <rich in the knowledge of human nature>. learning applies to knowledge acquired especially through formal, often advanced, schooling <a book that demonstrates vast learning>. erudition strongly implies the acquiring of profound, recondite, or bookish learning <an erudition unusual even in a scholar>. scholarship implies the possession of learning characteristic of the advanced scholar in a specialized field of study or investigation <a work of first-rate literary scholarship>.