co·gno·scen·te

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co·gno·scen·te

\ˌkän-yə-ˈshen-tē, ˌkäg-nə-, -ˈsen-\

noun

: a person who has expert knowledge in asubject : connoisseur

Other forms: plural co·gno·scen·ti\-tē\

Examples

a cognoscente of medieval paintingcognoscenti in the art world knew that mostof the works being auctioned off weresecond-rate stuff

Origin: obsolete Italian (now conoscente),from cognoscente, adjective, wise, from Latincognoscent-, cognoscens, present participle ofcognoscere.

First use: 1776

Synonyms: connoisseur, dilettante

Antonyms: amateur, inexpert, nonexpert

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