cognoscenti
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of cognoscenti
1770–80; < Italian, Latinized variant of conoscente (present participle of conoscere to know) < L. See cognition, -ent
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.
Despite the beacon, only Hanoi’s cà phê cognoscenti seek out this snug shop furnished with four short tables and a small counter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Once just 'the lads with the brushes', their physicality has evolved the position to the extent that the curling cognoscenti consider it to now be "a sweeping game" rather than a throwing one.
From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026
Chief among the concerns of Disneyland’s cognoscenti will be the fate of the ride’s large number of audio-animatronic critters, many of which were rescued from the 1970s-era America Sings attraction.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2023
In the 1730s, as Handel’s London audiences gradually broadened into the middle class from the aristocracy, they lost much of their interest in his Italian-language operas, which had thrilled the cognoscenti for years.
From New York Times • Mar. 13, 2023
Even in the auditorium at Steeplechase Park, where the cognoscenti assemble to witness the discomfiture of the uninitiated, there is nothing but harmless laughter as the skirts fly up before the unsuspected blast.
From Roving East and Roving West by Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
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.
