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Glite Dictionary
🧠 Clear awareness 🎯 Intentional 😉 Secretly aware 🤓 Clever understanding
knowing

knowing

6.7
A look or smile that shows you have secret information
  • adjective
  • /ˈnoʊɪŋ/
translation icon : cómplice
  • There was a knowing look in her eyes that suggested she knew more than she was saying.

Examples

  • He gave her a knowing smile, as if he understood her secret.

  • His knowing remarks hinted at a deeper understanding of the situation.

  • To be in the role of knowing that yes, these things happened.

  • What's the secret, knowing that the part is yours?

  • But what kind of a man who could ever be respected knowing these facts about him?

  • For example, I couldn't sleep at night knowing that my fans lost money because of me.

  • You know, there's sort of an ordering question going on there, calling upon knowing, understanding.

Synonyms

in the know
vsknowing
  • Informal
20 8.1

A person who knows secret or new information most people do not have

shows or hints at private understanding rather than proving real access

Antonyms

ignorant
367 3.7

Not knowing about something or how it works

naive
312 4.1

Not experienced and too ready to trust others

Idioms

nice knowing you
4 8.0

A polite goodbye said when you do not expect to see someone again

How Informed

knowing
6.7
well-informed
33 3.5
informed
3.7
aware
∞ 2.7
uninformed
42 3.7

Surface Forms

knowing positive

Morphology

knowing = know (semi-transparent) = know + ing

Derived via participial -ing from 'know'; the sense implying secret or inside information is a conventionalized nuance beyond the literal 'having knowledge'.

Etymology

Knowing shares its root with know and knowledge, so a 'knowing' look is like a small sign that someone 'knows a secret' or has inside information.