cognomen
Americannoun
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a surname.
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any name, especially a nickname.
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the third and commonly the last name of a citizen of ancient Rome, indicating the person's house or family, as “Caesar” in “Gaius Julius Caesar.”
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cognomen
1800–10; < Latin, equivalent to co- co- + nōmen name, with -g- on model of nōscī: cognōscī; see cognition
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And people have continued to find it risibly apposite ever since - especially in conjunction with the equally commonplace cognomen, Will.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2015
Retief Goosen - “Goose” Our second cognomen derived from a last name, which should rank it lower on the list.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 16, 2013
Its most evocative cognomen is The Porchcrawler—one unhyphenated word, with the crunch of consonants enhancing its cinematic imagery.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2012
Mayhaps you will be interested in knowing that the first university in this country was the University of Pennsylvania, which assumed this cognomen in 1790.
From Time Magazine Archive
But tradition makes less of them than of the red-bearded scoundrel who assumed the cognomen of an emperor.
From Naples Past and Present by Norway, Arthur H.
Without these air-inflated cognomens, Jim and Marion Jordan might now be back in Peoria.
From Time Magazine Archive
Modern life is too crowded perhaps for such lengthy addresses, but Frau Meyer and Herr Braun are certainly less picturesque cognomens.
From Confessions of an Opera Singer by Howard, Kathleen
These names are more of titles than of cognomens.
From The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations by Nuttall, Zelia
We spent some time canvassing over the proposed cognomens, rejecting this one for one reason, that one for another reason.
From Fibble, D.D. by Sarg, Tony
THE cognomens priest, prophet, presbyter, preacher, parson, and pastor have certain things in common, and these titles may therefore be used interchangeably.
From The Eliminator; or, Skeleton Keys to Sacerdotal Secrets by Westbrook, Richard B.
On the other hand, some aristocratic families used multiple cognomina to indicate their lineage; one inscription indicates that Q. Pompeius Senecio Sosius Priscus, ordinary consul in 169, had 38 names.
From Time ● Aug. 16, 2016
More certain yet is the likeness which shows in a list of 27 names, and all but one without cognomina.
From A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste by Magoffin, Ralph Van Deman
The Romans had surnames, or cognomina, but the barbarians who won Europe from them had not.
From Stories That Words Tell Us by O'Neill, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Speakman)
He therefore changed his praenomen to that of his adoptive father, and put his former nomen among his cognomina.
From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by Middleton, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
