reconnaissance

/rəˈkɑnəsɪnts/

/rəˈkɒnəsɪnts/

Other forms: reconnaissances

Reconnaissance is checking out a situation before taking action. Often it’s used as a military term, but you could also do reconnaissance on a new employee before you hire her, or a resort before you take a vacation.

Reconnaissance is a noun, and it technically means “the act of reconnoitering.” Whoa. Never heard that word before? Reconnoitering is just a fancy way of saying that you’re checking something out — sometimes in a sneaky way. If you like a girl in your Spanish class, you might ask a friend to do some reconnaissance to find out what she’s like. The word comes from the French reconnaître, which means “recognize.”

Definitions of reconnaissance

1. noun

   the act of reconnoitring (especially to gain information about an enemy or potential enemy)
   “an exchange of fire occurred on a reconnaissance mission”

   synonyms: reconnaissance mission

   types:

   recce, recco, reccy

   reconnaissance (by shortening)

   exploratory survey, reconnoitering, reconnoitring, scouting

   exploring in order to gain information

   air reconnaissance

   reconnaissance either by visual observation from the air or through the use of airborne sensors

   reconnaissance by fire

   a method of reconnaissance in which fire is placed on a suspected enemy position in order to cause the enemy to disclose his presence by moving or returning fire

   reconnaissance in force

   an offensive operation designed to discover or test the enemy's strength (or to obtain other information)

   shufti

   a quick look around (originally military slang)

   electronic reconnaissance

   the detection and identification and evaluation and location of foreign electromagnetic radiations (other than radioactive)

   type of:

   intelligence, intelligence activity, intelligence operation

   the operation of gathering information about an enemy