Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Proved or generally recognized.
  • noun Something that is known.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Perceived; understood; recognized; familiar; especially, when used absolutely, familiar to all; generally understood or perceived.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • past participle of know.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Someone or something that many people know about, renowned, famous.
  • verb Past participle of know
  • noun In algebra, a variable or constant whose value is already determined.
  • noun Any fact or situation which is well-researched or familiar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective apprehended with certainty

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Middle English, from Old English past participle cnāwen.

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Examples

  • The reason for the block is not known (and may never be known*), and I am not the only blogger in China who is sad (and angry) that the Chinese government feel the need to protect their citizens from diverse opinions and cultural-exchange in the name of "political stability."

    Blogspot.com blocked in China by the Chinese Communist Government Phil Razem 2009

  • The reason for the block is not known (and may never be known*), and I am not the only blogger in China who is sad (and angry) that the Chinese government feel the need to protect their citizens from diverse opinions and cultural-exchange in the name of "political stability."

    Archive 2009-05-01 Phil Razem 2009

  • "He had known woman," Maytera Mint explained, hoping that Spider would understand what she intended by _known_.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • "Can you give me a condensed report on what is known -- and I mean _known_ -- on telepathy and teleportation?"

    Supermind Laurence M. Janifer 1967

  • White men are known to harbor fugitives, in the neighborhood of Christiana, and these white men are known to be abolitionists, known to be opposed to the F.gitive Slave Law, and _known_ to be the warm friends of William F. Johnston,

    The Underground Railroad A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, &c., Narrating the Hardships, Hair-Breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in Their Efforts for Freedom, As Related by Themselves and Others, or Witnessed by the Author. William Still

  • We should have _known_ the characters as they were known to the patrician and the populace of two thousand years ago; we should have seen them as they threw out all their stately and muscular strength; we should have been able to recover them from the tomb, make them move before us "in their armour, as they lived," and gather from their lips the language of times and things, now past away from man.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 61, No. 376, February, 1847 Various

  • If knowledge is never complete, it is always _completing_; if reality is never known, it is ever _being known_; if the ideal is never actual, it is always _being actualized_.

    Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher Henry Jones 1887

  • We lay it down as a truth that can be made no plainer by reasoning, that the same 'public opinion,' which restrains men from _committing_ outrages, will restrain them from _publishing_ such outrages, if they do commit them; -- in other words, if a man is restrained from certain acts through fear of losing his character, should they become known, he will not voluntarily destroy his character by _making them known_, should he be guilty of them.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • We lay it down as a truth that can be made no plainer by reasoning, that the same 'public opinion,' which restrains men from _committing_ outrages, will restrain them from _publishing_ such outrages, if they do commit them; -- in other words, if a man is restrained from certain acts through fear of losing his character, should they become known, he will not voluntarily destroy his character by _making them known_, should he be guilty of them.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 3 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • Those of the first class, well known as the insignia of certain eminent personages and powerful houses, were borne by all the followers, retainers, dependants, and partisans of those personages and houses: and they were so borne by them, and they were used by their owners for every variety of decorative purpose, because they were _known and understood_; and, consequently, because the presence of these Badges would cause all persons and objects bearing them to be readily and certainly distinguished.

    The Handbook to English Heraldry Charles Boutell 1844

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