Literary notes about cognisant (AI summary)
The term "cognisant" is employed in literature to convey a nuanced state of awareness or recognition that often informs a character’s actions or reflections. Writers use it to emphasize acute perception, as when a character is fully aware of the implications of their surroundings or decisions (see [1], [2]), or to imply a latent, sometimes even subconscious, acknowledgment of deeper truths or hidden dynamics (see [3], [4]). It may denote both practical knowledge—such as being informed of political plots or personal affairs ([5], [6])—and a more philosophical insight into reality or morality ([7], [8]). In diverse contexts, the word enriches narrative expression by linking external events with internal consciousness, thus deepening the reader’s understanding of characters’ psychological and moral landscapes ([9], [10]).
- Her dreams of the world faded, and she was only cognisant of the dim church and the inspired improvisation of her beloved Monsieur Gabriel.
— from A German Pompadour
Being the Extraordinary History of Wilhelmine van Grävenitz, Landhofmeisterin of Wirtemberg by Hay, Marie, Hon. (Agnes Blanche Marie) - Beholding her at close range like this, I suddenly became cognisant of what I was in for.
— from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse - Even in that anxious moment The Girl was cognisant of a dreary, dirty, repulsive look about it which had not been there before.
— from Maid of the Mist by John Oxenham - Old Maisie was in a kind of dreamland, only half-cognisant of what was going on about her.
— from When Ghost Meets Ghost by William De Morgan - It was alleged that this leniency to the Earl and Countess was due to King James himself having been cognisant of the plot to kill Overbury.
— from Science and the Criminal by C. Ainsworth (Charles Ainsworth) Mitchell - Moreover, he appears to have been kept fully cognisant of Mr. Landor's moves through the agency of his spies in Garbyang.
— from In the Forbidden Land
An account of a journey in Tibet, capture by the Tibetan authorities, imprisonment, torture and ultimate release by Arnold Henry Savage Landor - According to this doctrine we are cognisant of real things, not in and through themselves, but in and through these species or representations.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847 by Various - And fear ye God: Verily, God is cognisant of what ye do.
— from The Koran (Al-Qur'an) - That interview convinced me more than ever that she was, in some manner, cognisant of the truth.
— from The Seven Secrets by William Le Queux - If the teachers of mankind are to be cognisant of all that they ought to know, everything must be free to be written and published without restraint.
— from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill