cognomen
Americannoun
-
cognomens,
plural
-
cognomina
plural
-
a surname.
-
any name, especially a nickname.
-
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
One Gladys Miller, a member of the treasury department of the B. & O., who acquired, in a recent beauty contest, the cognomen, "Miss Maryland," was trundled along upon a float.
From Time Magazine Archive
The cognomen Multa, or Malta, signifies, therefore, the spot through which life enters into the chamber, i.e., the womb, and through which the fruit matured within enters into the world as a new being.
Without these air-inflated cognomens, Jim and Marion Jordan might now be back in Peoria.
From Time Magazine Archive
The editor is going to read in a hurry the first time through, and he cannot continually consult the cast to identify your constant changes in cognomens.
From Writing the Photoplay by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein
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 Tony Sarg
Her Christian name alone was more impressive than the myriad cognomens of queens and princesses.
From The Lion's Share by Arnold Bennett
There were frequent cases of coincidence in the most absurd cognomens.
From The Call of the Town A Tale of Literary Life by Sir John Alexander Hammerton
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
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 George Middleton
The Romans had surnames, or cognomina, but the barbarians who won Europe from them had not.
From Stories That Words Tell Us by Elizabeth (Elizabeth Speakman) O'Neill
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 Ralph Van Deman Magoffin
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.
