Standard Lemma guide

knowingly

adv · 3 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.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N OW1 IH0 NG L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In the manner of one who knows.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • She smiled knowingly, but kept the secret.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adv

Meaning 2

With knowledge of all relevant facts.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • She would never knowingly pour any pollutant down the drain.
  • We keep our prices low and are never knowingly undersold.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: awarely, consciously

Antonyms: unknowingly, obliviously, unawarely, unconsciously, subconsciously

3

adverb

Meaning 3

with full knowledge and deliberation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he wittingly deleted the references

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: wittingly

Antonyms: unknowingly

History

Etymology

From Middle English knawyngly, knowyngly. By surface analysis, knowing + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: съзнателно (sǎznatelno) — adverb
  • Bulgarian: преднамерено (prednamereno) — adverb
  • Danish: megetsigende — adverb
  • Finnish: tietoisesti — adverb
  • Finnish: tieten tahtoen — adverb
  • Finnish: tieten — adverb
  • Finnish: varta vasten — adverb
  • French: sciemment — adverb
  • Old French: esciemment — adverb
  • Galician: a sabido — adverb
  • Georgian: შეგნებულად (šegnebulad) — adverb
  • German: wissentlich — adverb
  • German: bewusst — adverb
  • Hindi: जानकर (jānkar) — adverb
  • Hungarian: sokatmondóan — adverb
  • Ingrian: tiitoisest — adverb
  • Latin: scienter — adverb
  • Norwegian Bokmål: megetsigende — adverb
  • Russian: понима́юще (ponimájušče) — adverb
  • Spanish: a sabiendas — adverb
  • Spanish: con conocimiento de causa — adverb
  • Spanish: sabientemente — adverb
  • Spanish: sabedoramente — adverb
  • Spanish: sabiendo — adverb
  • Turkish: bile bile — adverb
  • Ukrainian: знано (znano) — adverb
  • Ukrainian: обізнано (obiznano) — adverb
  • Ukrainian: поінформовано (poinformovano) — adverb
  • Ukrainian: розуміючо (rozumijučo) — adverb
  • Ukrainian: свідомо (svidomo) — adverb
  • Ukrainian: умисно (umysno) — adverb