knowingly

K5N1O1W4I1N1G2L1Y4

adverb

In the manner of one who knows.

“She smiled knowingly, but kept the secret.”

Less commonScrabble 20

Meanings

adverbknowingly (comparative more knowingly, superlative most knowingly)

comparative more knowingly · superlative most knowingly

  1. In the manner of one who knows.

    She smiled knowingly, but kept the secret.

    1 more example

    He pursed his lips knowingly and winked exaggeratedly.

    1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 121
  2. With knowledge of all relevant facts.

    We keep our prices low and are never knowingly undersold.

    2 more examples

    She would never knowingly pour any pollutant down the drain.

    The real bombshell it contains is not the confidence of the spy agencies that Russia hoped to subvert American democracy. It is that US intelligence experts effectively confirmed that for the second election in a row, Trump acolytes repeatedly used, knowingly or otherwise, misinformation produced by the spies of one of America’s most sworn foreign adversaries to try to win a US election.

    2021 March 17, Stephen Collinson, “New US intel report shows Russia, Trump and GOP acolytes have same goals”, in CNN

    Synonyms: awarely, consciously · Antonyms: unknowingly, obliviously, unawarely, unconsciously, subconsciously

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbWith knowledge of all relevant facts.

More synonyms by meaning

adverbwith full knowledge and deliberation

Similar
Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishknawyngly
  2. Englishknowingly

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

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian съзнателно, преднамерено
  • съзнателно (săznatelno)adverb
  • преднамерено (prednamereno)adverb
Danish megetsigende
  • megetsigendeadverb
Finnish tietoisesti, tieten tahtoen
  • tietoisestiadverb
  • tieten tahtoenadverb
  • tietenadverb
  • varta vastenadverb
French sciemment
  • sciemmentadverb
German wissentlich, bewusst
  • wissentlichadverb
  • bewusstadverb
Hindi जानकर
  • जानकर (jānkar)adverb
Hungarian sokatmondóan
  • sokatmondóanadverb
Latin scienter
  • scienteradverb
Norwegian Bokmål megetsigende
  • megetsigendeadverb
Russian понима́юще
  • понима́юще (ponimájušče)adverb
Spanish a sabiendas, con conocimiento de causa
  • a sabiendasadverb
  • con conocimiento de causaadverb
  • sabientementeadverb
  • sabedoramenteadverb
  • sabiendoadverb
Turkish bile bile
  • bile bileadverb
Ukrainian знано, обізнано
  • знано (znano)adverb
  • обізнано (obiznano)adverb
  • поінформовано (poinformovano)adverb
  • розуміючо (rozumijučo)adverb
  • свідомо (svidomo)adverb
  • умисно (umysno)adverb
Cite this entry
APA

knowingly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knowingly

MLA

“knowingly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knowingly. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knowingly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knowingly.

Source: knowingly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.