Standard Lemma guide

cognition

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /kɒɡˈnɪʃ.ən/
  • /kɔɡˈnɪʃ.ən/ General American, lot–cloth split
  • General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal: /kɑɡˈnɪʃ.ən/ of Canada
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /kɒɡˈnɪʃ.ən/ of the US
  • Australian: /koɡˈnɪʃ.ən/
  • New-Zealand: /kɒɡˈnəʃ.ən/
  • New-Zealand: [kɔ̟ɡˈnəʃ.ən]
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA0 G N IH1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The process of knowing, of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought and through the senses.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • human cognition
  • social cognition
  • cognition research
  • Children develop cognition rapidly in their early years.
  • The study focused on animal cognition.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A result of a cognitive process.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Knowledge; awareness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: knowledge, noesis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: psychological feature

Narrower terms: mind, head, brain, psyche, nous, place, public knowledge, general knowledge, episteme, ability, power, inability, lexis, vocabulary, lexicon, mental lexicon, practice, cognitive factor, equivalent, process, cognitive process, mental process, operation, cognitive operation, unconscious process, perception, structure, content, cognitive content, mental object, information, history, attitude, mental attitude

History

Etymology

From Middle English cognicion, cognicioun from Latin cognitiō (“knowledge, perception, a judicial examination, trial”), from cognitus, past participle of cognoscere (“to know”), from co- (“together”) + *gnoscere, older form of noscere (“to know”); see know, and compare cognize, cognizance, cognizor, cognosce, connoisseur.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: իմացություն (imacʻutʻyun) — process of knowing
  • Azerbaijani: qavrama — process of knowing
  • Azerbaijani: biliş — process of knowing
  • Bulgarian: позна́ние (poznánie) — process of knowing
  • Bulgarian: зна́ние (znánie) — process of knowing
  • Catalan: cognició — process of knowing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 認知 /认知 (rènzhī) — process of knowing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 認識 /认识 (rènshi) — process of knowing
  • Danish: kognition — process of knowing
  • Danish: erkendelse — process of knowing
  • Finnish: kognitio — process of knowing
  • Finnish: tajunta — process of knowing
  • French: connaissance — process of knowing
  • Galician: cognición — process of knowing
  • German: Kognition — process of knowing
  • German: Erkenntnis — process of knowing
  • Hebrew: הכרה (hakara) — process of knowing
  • Hindi: संज्ञान (sañjñān) — process of knowing
  • Hindi: बोध (bodh) — process of knowing
  • Hungarian: megismerés — process of knowing
  • Italian: conoscenza — process of knowing
  • Japanese: 認知 (ninchi) — process of knowing
  • Korean: 인지 (inji) — process of knowing
  • Lithuanian: pažinimas — process of knowing
  • Māori: hirikapo — process of knowing
  • Polish: poznanie — process of knowing
  • Polish: percepcja — process of knowing
  • Portuguese: cognição — process of knowing
  • Punjabi: ਸੰਗਿਆਨ (saṅgiāna) — process of knowing
  • Russian: позна́ние (poznánije) — process of knowing
  • Russian: восприя́тие (vosprijátije) — process of knowing
  • Serbo-Croatian: спознаја — process of knowing
  • Serbo-Croatian: spoznaja — process of knowing
  • Slovak: poznávanie — process of knowing
  • Spanish: cognición — process of knowing
  • Turkish: biliş — process of knowing
  • Turkish: sadınım — process of knowing
  • Ukrainian: пізна́ння (piznánnja) — process of knowing
  • Vietnamese: nhận thức — process of knowing
  • Welsh: gwybyddiaeth — process of knowing
Real reading context

cognition in complete knowledge articles