From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcognizancecog‧ni‧zance, cognisance /ˈkɒɡnəzəns $ ˈkɑːɡ-/ noun [uncountable] formal 1 KNOW somethingknowledge or understanding of something2 → take cognizance of something
Examples from the Corpus
cognizance• He has full cognizance of the risks involved.• Judged harmless, Paul was released on his own cognizance.• Of course, in both enumerative and faceted schemes, it is necessary to take cognizance of new simple subjects.• It was a military program developed under the cognizance of the Defense Department.Origin cognizance (1300-1400) Old French conoissance, from conoistre “to know”, from Latin cognoscere; → COGNITION 