Reconnoitre

//ˌɹɛkəˈnɔɪtə// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act or instance of reconnoitring.

    "The pilot reported the findings of his reconnoitre."

Verb
  1. 1
    To perform a reconnaissance (of an area; an enemy position); to scout with the aim of gaining information. intransitive, transitive

    "Our scout will reconnoitre the path ahead of our troops."

  2. 2
    explore, often with the goal of finding something or somebody wordnet
  3. 3
    To recognise. obsolete

    "As to my person, it will not be so easy to reconnoitre it, for I question whether any of it will remain"

Synonyms

All synonyms
scoutscoutreconnoitersurvey

Example

More examples

"Our scout will reconnoitre the path ahead of our troops."

Etymology

From French reconnoître (obsolete spelling of reconnaître), from Latin recognoscere (“to recognise”). There is also an obsolete 19th-century British English spelling reconnaitre, influenced by the modern French form.

More for "reconnoitre"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.