knowledge

/ˈnɑlədʒ/

/ˈnɒlɛdʒ/

Other forms: knowledges

Why do you go to school? For knowledge, of course. To have knowledge means to know or be aware of things.

Knowledge is understanding gained through learning or experience. You read a recipe to gain knowledge about baking rhubarb pie. When it burns in the oven, experience gives you the knowledge that you need to stop doing three things at once. Fields like biology, math, art, medicine, and others have huge bodies of knowledge. Knowledge can mean information and also deeper understanding. You can use this word as a disclaimer too, as in "To my knowledge, my sister walked the dog."

Definitions of knowledge

1. noun

   the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning
   synonyms: cognition, noesis

   types:

   brain, head, mind, nous, psyche

   that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason

   place

   an abstract mental location

   general knowledge, public knowledge

   knowledge that is available to anyone

   episteme

   the body of ideas that determine the knowledge that is intellectually certain at any particular time

   ability, power

   possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done

   inability

   lack of ability (especially mental ability) to do something

   lexis

   all of the words in a language; all word forms having meaning or grammatical function

   lexicon, mental lexicon, vocabulary

   a language user's knowledge of words

   practice

   knowledge of how something is usually done

   cognitive factor

   something immaterial (as a circumstance or influence) that contributes to producing a result

   equivalent

   a person or thing equal to another in value, measure, force, effect, significance, etc.

   cognitive operation, cognitive process, mental process, operation, process

   (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents

   process, unconscious process

   a mental process that you are not directly aware of

   perception

   knowledge gained by perceiving

   structure

   the complex composition of knowledge as elements and their combinations

   cognitive content, content, mental object

   the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned

   information

   knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

   history

   all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing; a body of knowledge

   attitude, mental attitude

   a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways

   sleep talking, somniloquism, somniloquy

   uttering speech while asleep

   noddle

   an informal British expression for head or mind

   common knowledge

   anything generally known to everyone

   light

   public awareness

   open, surface

   information that has become public

   tabula rasa

   a young mind not yet affected by experience (according to John Locke)

   ego

   (psychoanalysis) the conscious mind

   unconscious, unconscious mind

   that part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware

   subconscious, subconscious mind

   psychic activity just below the level of awareness

   know-how

   the (technical) knowledge and skill required to do something

   leadership

   the ability to lead

   intelligence

   the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience

   aptitude

   inherent ability

   bilingualism

   the ability to speak two languages colloquially

   capacity, mental ability

   the power to learn or retain knowledge; in law, the ability to understand the facts and significance of your behavior

   creative thinking, creativeness, creativity

   the ability to create

   originality

   the ability to think and act independently

   science, skill

   ability to produce solutions in some problem domain

   accomplishment, acquirement, acquisition, attainment, skill

   an ability that has been acquired by training

   hand

   ability

   superior skill

   more than ordinary ability

   block, mental block

   an inability to remember or think of something you normally can do; often caused by emotional tension

   stupidity

   a poor ability to understand or to profit from experience

   inaptitude

   a lack of aptitude

   incapacity

   lack of intellectual power

   unskillfulness

   a lack of cognitive skill

   analphabetism, illiteracy

   an inability to read

   uncreativeness

   a lack of creativity

   faculty, mental faculty, module

   one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind

   custom, tradition

   a specific practice of long standing

   convention, formula, normal, pattern, rule

   something regarded as a normative example

   heritage, legacy

   practices that are handed down from the past by tradition

   divine guidance, inspiration

   (theology) a special influence of a divinity on the minds of human beings

   difficulty

   a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result

   causal factor, determinant, determinative, determiner, determining factor

   a determining or causal element or factor

   counterpart, opposite number, vis-a-vis

   a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another

   replacement, substitute

   a person or thing that takes or can take the place of another

   basic cognitive process

   cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge

   discernment, perceptiveness

   perception of that which is obscure

   insight, penetration

   clear or deep perception of a situation

   cognizance

   range or scope of what is perceived

   arrangement, organisation, organization, system

   an organized structure for arranging or classifying

   higher cognitive process

   cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use

   incomprehension

   an inability to understand

   tradition

   an inherited pattern of thought or action

   object

   the focus of cognitions or feelings

   food, food for thought, intellectual nourishment

   anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking

   noumenon, thing-in-itself

   the intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception

   universe, universe of discourse

   everything stated or assumed in a given discussion

   issue, matter, subject, topic

   some situation or event that is thought about

   issue

   an important question that is in dispute and must be settled

   data point, datum

   an item of factual information derived from measurement or research

   acquaintance, conversance, conversancy, familiarity

   personal knowledge or information about someone or something

   fact

   a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred

   example, illustration, instance, representative

   an item of information that is typical of a class or group

   circumstance, condition, consideration

   information that should be kept in mind when making a decision

   background, background knowledge

   information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

   descriptor

   a piece of stored information that is used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system

   evidence, grounds

   your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief

   predictor

   information that supports a probabilistic estimate of future events

   tip-off

   inside information that something is going to happen

   input, stimulant, stimulation, stimulus

   any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action

   idea, thought

   the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about

   center, centre, core, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, pith, substance, sum

   the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

   wisdom

   accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment

   internal representation, mental representation, representation

   a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image

   form, pattern, shape

   a perceptual structure

   belief

   any cognitive content held as true

   disbelief, unbelief

   a rejection of belief

   heresy, unorthodoxy

   a belief that rejects the orthodox tenets of a religion

   end, goal

   the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it

   education

   knowledge acquired by learning and instruction

   experience

   the content of direct observation or participation in an event

   acculturation, culture

   all the knowledge and values shared by a society

   lore, traditional knowledge

   knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote

   ignorance

   the lack of knowledge or education

   domain, knowledge base, knowledge domain

   the content of a particular field of knowledge

   metaknowledge

   knowledge about knowledge

   phrase structure, sentence structure, syntax

   the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences

   morphology, sound structure, syllable structure, word structure

   the admissible arrangement of sounds in words

   acceptance, credence

   the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true

   culture

   the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization

   defensive, defensive attitude

   an attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase `on the defensive')

   hardball

   a no-nonsense attitude in business or politics

   high horse

   an attitude of arrogant superiority

   southernism

   an attitude characteristic of Southerners (especially in the US)

   mentality, mind-set, mindset, outlook

   a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations

   paternalism

   the attitude (of a person or a government) that subordinates should be controlled in a fatherly way for their own good

   position, posture, stance

   a rationalized mental attitude

   disposition, inclination, tendency

   an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others

   tolerance

   willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others

   intolerance

   unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinions or beliefs

   esteem, regard, respect

   an attitude of admiration or esteem

   disrespect

   a disrespectful mental attitude

   reverence

   a reverent mental attitude

   irreverence

   an irreverent mental attitude

   orientation

   an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs

   condensation

   (psychoanalysis) an unconscious process whereby two ideas or images combine into a single symbol; especially in dreams

   layer, level, stratum

   an abstract place usually conceived as having depth

   defence, defence mechanism, defence reaction, defense, defense mechanism, defense reaction

   (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires

   type of:

   psychological feature

   a feature of the mental life of a living organism