Meaning of Cognizant and Meaning of Prophylactic

Meaning of Cognizant and Meaning of Prophylactic

In my continuing quest to make note of words that have jumped to the forefront during this pandemic, I’ve identified two more offenders—cognizant and prophylactic. Don’t get me wrong; the words aren’t at fault, they’re fine words. I blame the people using them. The reporters, doctors, and analysts are using what I refer to two-dollar words when fifty-cent ones would do just fine. Many people listening to the news don’t grasp the meaning of cognizant and don’t understand the meaning of prophylactic.

Here are a couple of statements I heard using those words.

• He was fully cognizant of the consequences . . .
• Knowing there was no prophylactic avaialable, she continued anyway.

Now let’s look at a few dictionary definictions of the words.

Cambridge

Unfortunately, we were not cognizant of (= did not know) the full facts.

Longman

prophylactic noun [countable].

ILLNESS & DISABILITY
something used to prevent disease
formala condom – often used humorously

Lookup

Cognizant
adjective 1. Formal having knowledge or being aware of
statesmen must be cognizant of the political boundaries within which they work

Prophylactic
> preventive, preventative, prophylactic
remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease; “the doctor recommended several preventatives”
LESS SPECIFIC
remedy, curative, cure

Now that we’ve seen the dictionary definitions, let’s look at how the words could have been used more effectively to convey the meaning of cognizant or the meaning of prophylactic. Here are the sentences we used earlier:

– He was fully cognizant of the consequences . . .
– Knowing there was no prophylactic avaialable, she continued anyway.

Now let’s see how they could have been phrased so more people would understand them.

– He was aware of the consequences . . .
– He knew of the consequences . . .
– He knew what the consequences would be . . .
– Knowing there was no way to prevent the disease, she continued anyway.

Phrasing the sentences in that manner, no one wonders what was meant, and that is the goal of communicating.

I’m not dogging these analysts for their use of the words, not even the ones who occasionally used them wrong. I’ve been guilty of using words wrong in the past—and more than once or twice. I continue to try to improve my vocabulary, but at the same time, I try to make sure I don’t confuse people when I speak or when I write.

With that in mind, we need to ask why the media deems (and yes, I used “deems” on purpose instead of “deem”) it necessary to use words like:

– prophylactic
– cognizant
– close proximity (almost always used wrong)
– mitigate
– promulgate
– panacea

The news right now should be delivered for all the people, not just the ones with a good vocabulary. If these analysts and doctors understand the words they’re using, then they can certainly express them in an easier-to-understand manner.

If you want more on two-dollar words, try this post.

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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books, including Simply Put: The Plain English Grammar Guide and the No Mistakes Careers series as well as other books on grammar, fantasy, publishing, writing, and children’s fiction and nonfiction.

When Giacomo isn’t writing, he’s helping his wife take care of the animals on their sanctuary. At last count, they had forty animals—seven dogs, one horse, six cats, and twenty-five pigs.

Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who used to take walks with Giacomo every day.
He lives in Texas, where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with forty loving “friends.”

Tags: editing, grammar, misused words