knowing
Wise and perceptive
Knowing describes awareness or understanding—you can give someone a knowing look that signals shared information without words.
A knowing smile suggests you're in on something others aren't.
As an adjective, it can mean deliberate: a knowing violation of the rules.
The word often carries a hint of slyness or worldly wisdom: She had a knowing air about her.
Mentally present and alert
- informedGiven necessary knowledge
- alertWarning or watchfulness
- attentivePaying close notice
- mindfulConsciously attentive
observant · perceptive · cognizant · awake · acquainted · familiar · apprised · notified
Mental understanding of meaning
- graspSeize or understand
- insightDeep perceptive understanding
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- discernmentKeen perception and judgment
perception · realization · recognition · clarity · awareness · fathoming · apprehension · savvy
Arising without conscious thought
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- empathySharing another's emotions
sensitivity · innate · subconscious · insightful · perceptive · sensing · feeling · anticipating
conscious
Mentally present and alert
mindful · observant · perceptive · cognizant · awake · acquainted · familiar · apprised · notified · briefed
comprehension
Mental understanding of meaning
discernment · perception · realization · recognition · clarity · awareness · fathoming · apprehension · savvy · acumen
instinctive
Arising without conscious thought
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
empathy · sensitivity · innate · subconscious · insightful · perceptive · sensing · feeling · anticipating · discerning
sly
Cleverly deceptive
artful · calculating · scheming · devious · conniving · manipulative · cagey · foxy · slick · subtle
- gerundswalking, running, talking, eating, sleeping
- mental processesthinking, think, reasoning, pondering, attention
- mental statesconscious, mood, anxious, memory, aware
- Shepherdingshepherd boy, shepherdess, crook, flock, herd
- cognitionthinking, reasoning, thought, remembering, memory retrieval
- understandingunderstand, comprehend, grasp, fathom, follow
knowingunknowing
Lacking awareness or information
unaware · oblivious · unconscious · unmindful · unwitting
knowingunintentional
Not done on purpose
unwitting · accidental · inadvertent · unintended · spontaneous
- knowing betterHaving superior judgment
- knowing lookExpression conveying shared understanding
- not knowingAbsence of awareness
- knowing someoneHaving prior acquaintance
- knowing smile
- knowing one's stuffBeing genuinely skilled
knowingly, unknowing, unknowingly, knowingness, unknowingness