reconnaissance
/rɪˈkɒnɪs(ə)ns
/noun [mass noun]
1Military observation of a region to locate an enemy or ascertain strategic features: an excellent aircraft for low-level reconnaissance [count noun]: after a reconnaissance British forces took the island...
- Ark Royal launched many reconnaissances for gun positions and mines from March 13-17.
- For the most part it was considered that air forces would be used primarily for scouting and reconnaissance missions, both overland and at sea.
- It will predominantly feature surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
Synonyms
preliminary survey, survey, exploration, observation, investigation, examination, inspection, probe, scrutiny, scan;
patrol, search, expedition;
reconnoitring, scouting (out), spying out
informal recce
British informal shufti
North American informal recon
1.1Preliminary surveying or research: conducting client reconnaissance...
- When we arrived, Mason was still asleep, so I left the rest of the team in the car to conduct a bit of reconnaissance.
- I did carry out a detailed reconnaissance but must have missed the signs suggesting this was a private road.
- Thus, they may be carrying out reconnaissance of areas for future breeding or staging sites.
Origin
Early 19th century: from French, from reconnaître 'recognize' (see reconnoitre).
recognize from Late Middle English:
To recognize someone is literally to know them again, from Latin recognoscere, from re- ‘again’ and cognoscere ‘to know’. Already in Latin this had developed logical extensions to the senses such as ‘examine, acknowledge, certify’. It was in these legal senses that the word first entered English, alongside recognition. Its use to mean ‘know by some distinctive feature’ dates only from the early 18th century. Reconnaissance (early 19th century) and reconnoitre (early 18th century) both come from the French form of the word, reconnoître. See quaint