cognizance
16 synonyms and 3 antonyms for cognizance, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — Knowledge or awareness of something, especially official or conscious awareness of it.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
Knowledge or awareness of something, especially official or conscious awareness of it.
“The complaint never came to the cognizance of senior management.”
Opposites
2. noun law
The authority of a court to hear and decide a particular case; the range of matters a court may deal with.
“Fraud of this scale falls within the cognizance of the federal courts.”
How to use cognizance
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Formal. Outside of law, it appears mostly in the fixed phrase 'take cognizance of'.
Etymology
From Old French conoissance 'knowledge, acquaintance', from conoistre, which comes from Latin cognoscere 'to get to know'. English later restored the g in spelling to reflect the Latin root.
Full origin of cognizance →