Reconnoitered

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˌɹɛkəˈnɔɪtəd/

Definitions

1. To examine a location carefully to obtain military or strategic information
2. To inspect or explore a region to gain knowledge about its features or conditions
3. To conduct a detailed survey of a place, often for mapping or intelligence purposes

Etymology: "Reconnoitered" is the past tense of "reconnoiter," and the verb's core idea is recognition: it traces back to Latin "recognoscere," meaning "to recognize." That Latin verb passed into French as "reconnaître," which meant to recognize, acknowledge or identify someone, and the English word carries that sense of looking again until something becomes clear. The spelling changed along the way. French once wrote it "reconnoître," and English adopted that form, so the "oi" in the modern spelling is a survival of French orthography. The military sense arrived through the French usage. A reconnaissance was a survey made to identify the lie of the land and the position of the enemy, and the verb came to mean carrying out such a survey. Because it was a specialized term of war, it still tends to appear in military contexts, though it is now used more broadly for any careful preliminary look at a place or situation.

Synonyms: scouted, explored