knowingness
Americannoun
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the quality of being aware, intelligent, well-informed, or intentional; knowing quality.
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the quality of being shrewd, sharp, or astute, or of trying to seem so in a self-conscious way.
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.
It’s campy, it’s cheesy, it’s way more fun than you expect it to be, but there’s a knowingness to the whole endeavor.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2025
In Casey, she could also practice the knowingness that makes her such a superb audience surrogate.
From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023
This knowingness is very maternal, and is cast over all of these characters like a blanket, or like signal fires themselves.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 8, 2022
Often it’s held in check by other qualities: playfulness, knowingness, sardonic wit, plaintive sorrow, a joy in being alive.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2022
Death would be a complete knowingness, but what frightened him was this: not knowing beforehand what it was he would know.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
