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Literary notes about cognisant (AI summary)

The term "cognisant" is employed in literature to convey a nuanced state of awareness or recognition that often informs a character’s actions or reflections. Writers use it to emphasize acute perception, as when a character is fully aware of the implications of their surroundings or decisions (see [1], [2]), or to imply a latent, sometimes even subconscious, acknowledgment of deeper truths or hidden dynamics (see [3], [4]). It may denote both practical knowledge—such as being informed of political plots or personal affairs ([5], [6])—and a more philosophical insight into reality or morality ([7], [8]). In diverse contexts, the word enriches narrative expression by linking external events with internal consciousness, thus deepening the reader’s understanding of characters’ psychological and moral landscapes ([9], [10]).
  1. Her dreams of the world faded, and she was only cognisant of the dim church and the inspired improvisation of her beloved Monsieur Gabriel.
    — from A German Pompadour Being the Extraordinary History of Wilhelmine van Grävenitz, Landhofmeisterin of Wirtemberg by Hay, Marie, Hon. (Agnes Blanche Marie)
  2. Beholding her at close range like this, I suddenly became cognisant of what I was in for.
    — from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
  3. Even in that anxious moment The Girl was cognisant of a dreary, dirty, repulsive look about it which had not been there before.
    — from Maid of the Mist by John Oxenham
  4. Old Maisie was in a kind of dreamland, only half-cognisant of what was going on about her.
    — from When Ghost Meets Ghost by William De Morgan
  5. It was alleged that this leniency to the Earl and Countess was due to King James himself having been cognisant of the plot to kill Overbury.
    — from Science and the Criminal by C. Ainsworth (Charles Ainsworth) Mitchell
  6. Moreover, he appears to have been kept fully cognisant of Mr. Landor's moves through the agency of his spies in Garbyang.
    — from In the Forbidden Land An account of a journey in Tibet, capture by the Tibetan authorities, imprisonment, torture and ultimate release by Arnold Henry Savage Landor
  7. According to this doctrine we are cognisant of real things, not in and through themselves, but in and through these species or representations.
    — from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847 by Various
  8. And fear ye God: Verily, God is cognisant of what ye do.
    — from The Koran (Al-Qur'an)
  9. That interview convinced me more than ever that she was, in some manner, cognisant of the truth.
    — from The Seven Secrets by William Le Queux
  10. If the teachers of mankind are to be cognisant of all that they ought to know, everything must be free to be written and published without restraint.
    — from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

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