reconnaissance
/ɹɪˈkɒnɪsəns/
reconnaissance means the act of scouting or exploring (especially military or medical) to gain information.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, reconnaissance ranks #2,382 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #6,185 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
reconnaissance is pronounced /ɹɪˈkɒnɪsəns/.
Why “reconnaissance” is a great word
The military act of scouting or exploring to gain information about an enemy or terrain. Borrowed from French reconnaissance ("recognition, survey"), from Old French reconoissance, from the verb reconoistre ("to recognize"), itself from Latin recognoscere ("to know again, recognize"), the word first entered English around 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike surveillance, which implies a prolonged and covert watch, or exploration, which suggests a wider quest for discovery, reconnaissance is a preliminary, pointed survey, often conducted under threat. It is a single aircraft skimming low over contested hills, a cavalry patrol breaking from the treeline at dawn, a submarine's periscope rising once through dark water—each a brief, exposed moment of looking before the looking must stop, the knowledge secured at speed and at risk, for war does not permit the luxury of lingering.
Etymology
Borrowed from French reconnaissance (“recognition”). Doublet of recognizance.
noun
- The act of scouting or exploring (especially military or medical) to gain information.“The third member, Sergeant Pieter Rousseau, had been with the back-up teams at the Hub; he was an expert on space reconnaissance instrumentation, but on this trip he would have to depend on his own eyes and a small portable telescope.”
Words closest in meaning
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