Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A family name; a surname.
- n. The third and usually last name of a citizen of ancient Rome, as Caesar in Gaius Julius Caesar.
- n. A name, especially a descriptive nickname or epithet acquired through usage over a period of time.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A surname; a distinguishing name; specifically, the last of the three names by which a Roman of good family was known, indicating the house to which he belonged. See name.
- n. Loosely, a name, whether a given name, surname, or distinguishing epithet.
Wiktionary
- n. surname
- n. the third part of the name of a citizen of ancient Rome
- n. a nickname or epithet by which someone is identified; a byname; a moniker or sobriquet
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The last of the three names of a person among the ancient Romans, denoting his house or family.
- n. (Eng. Law) A surname.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)
- n. the name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)
Etymologies
- From Latin co- ("together, with") + nōmen ("name"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin cognōmen : co-, con-, co- (influenced by cognōscere, to know) + nōmen, name; see nŏ̄-men- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I see that a daily paper in New York whose cognomen is borrowed from a very large object, has suggested that Secretary Seward should retire from Mr. Johnson's Cabinet in order to conciliate these Southern traitors, he being to them a very offensive object.”
“Colleen McCullough in her 'Masters of Rome' series managed the profusion of Julias using dimunitives (Julia, Julilla), nicknames (two little girls called Ju-ju and Lia) and a sort of 'cognomen' addition e.g.”
“That might not be quite it, because what I'm thinking of is like cognomen but for fitting in the line of poetry, and I don't know if there's a separate word for that.”
“The name was chosen because “Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness.””
HCR: Pelosi tells the simple-minded American people not to worry our pretty little heads about it
“Anderson: Lawyerly Type, your cognomen is mischosen.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Virginia “Confederate History Month” Proclamation
“Under this appellation, he released fifteen or so albums (including the pop gem Adam's Apple), contributed material to soundtracks such as High Fidelity, been joined onstage and on recordings by a total of artists too large to tally here, and he is a critically-acclaimed writer (Listerine: The Life And Opinions Of Lawrence Stern) and novelist (Misfortune) under his Stace cognomen.”
“Usually in Kracton this cognomen of facial appearance would all be taken as a sign of intelligence headed toward an adulthood of wisdom.”
“It means this," replied Oril, for that was the cognomen of his new friend.”
“Metellus Artorius Maximus is not a Roman name, it's three cognomen strung together.”
“Metellus is an unhappy choice of name then, because not only is a cognomen used as praenomen, but it's also one of those cognomen closely associated with one powerful family.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cognomen’.
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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Collected Words - List 2
I've been saving these words FOR YEARS. Now, I've found Wordie
gasconade, zaccheus, spoor, precentor, bombazine, otiose, khamsin, bruited, viva voce, whilom, lenitive, ebullition and 244 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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My dick in your
DISCLAIMER: Not for the faint of heart/humerus
There's a backstory, I swear: Arabic has numerous insults beginning with "My dick in your..."
"My dick in your religion"sanctum sanctorum, dick's dick, lack thereof, loved ones, bone marrow, no-no square, hermitage, old linen, favourite pants, English channel, pet ferret, ad hominem attack and 138 more...
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Of Mice and Men
Words with consecutive sequences of m-i-c-e or m-e-n.
pumice, vermicelli, Comice, cognomen, agnomen, amenable, mice, men, women, praenomen, mention, hemicellulose and 12 more...
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Deadwood Dick
venison, vim, sanguine, gulch, maudlin, hirsute, pare, cavalcade, twain, repast, cognomen, florid and 3 more...
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Pesky
Pesky pronunciations
perspicacious, carminative, eleemosynary, katzenjammer, cognomen, xanthin, weltanschauung, wahrheitssensible..., entropic doom, dietrologia, lontanaza, überrNoch and 22 more...
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A Name
Nouns meaning a name
nomen, binomen, cognomen, appellation, epithet, agnomen, designation, surname, alias, autonym, eponym, anonym and 18 more...
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Originally
Being a list of words which have the word "originally" in their definitions. Sometimes this takes the form "originally... now...."
leave, primitively, sherry, boulevard, pressboard, Zouave, wolfhound, Babenberg, kumiss, Chickasaw, azalea, bombardon and 19 more...
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These words are about words.
words on words. yyep.
codex, folio, lexicon, tome, word stock, wordbook, wordlist, palaver, word index, argot, parlance, doublespeak and 68 more...
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Pale Fire
Words gathered while reading Pale Fire.
larches, torquate, stillicide, vermiculate, preterist, theolatry, iridule, vulgarian, cloutish, lemniscate, torsion, trillium and 176 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cognomen.
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