Link Centre Dictionary

know

UK/noʊ/ US/noː˨˦/ very common

verb

1.

be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about

  • “I know that the President lied to the people”
  • “I want to know who is winning the game!”
  • “I know it”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

know how to do or perform something

  • “She knows how to knit”
  • “Does your husband know how to cook?”
3.

be aware of the truth of something; have a belief or faith in something; regard as true beyond any doubt

  • “I know that I left the key on the table”
  • “Galileo knew that the earth moves around the sun”
4.

be familiar or acquainted with a person or an object

  • “She doesn”
  • “;”
  • “;”
  • “;”
  • “;”
5.

have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations

  • “I know the feeling!”
  • “have you ever known hunger?”
  • “I have lived a kind of hell when I was a drug addict”
  • “The holocaust survivors have lived a nightmare”
  • “I lived through two divorces”
Synonyms
6.

accept (someone) to be what is claimed or accept his power and authority

  • “The Crown Prince was acknowledged as the true heir to the throne”
  • “We do not recognize your gods”
Synonyms
7.

have fixed in the mind

  • “I know Latin”
  • “This student knows her irregular verbs”
  • “Do you know the poem well enough to recite it?”
8.

have sexual intercourse with

  • “This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm”
  • “Adam knew Eve”
  • “Were you ever intimate with this man?”
Synonyms
9.

know the nature or character of

  • “we all knew her as a big show-off”
10.

be able to distinguish, recognize as being different

  • “The child knows right from wrong”
11.

perceive as familiar

  • “I know this voice!”

Origin

From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognates * from Proto-Germanic: Scots knaw (“to know, recognise”), Icelandic knega (“to know, know how to, be able”), Old High German knājan (“to know, recognise”), Old Norse kná (“to know how”). Remotely related also Dutch and German kennen, West Frisian kenne (see English ken). * from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “to know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“to know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”) and Hindi जानना (jānnā, “to know, understand”).

Phrases

  • in the know

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.