incognito
1 of 2adverb or adjective
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The ancient Romans knew that there are times when you don't want to be recognized. For example, a story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells how Jupiter and Mercury visited a village incognito and asked for lodging. The supposedly penniless travelers were turned away from every household except that of a poor elderly couple named Baucis and Philemon; the pair provided a room and a feast for the visitors despite their own poverty. The Romans had a word that described someone or something unknown, like the gods in the tale: incognitus, a term that is the ancestor of our modern incognito. Cognitus is a form of the Latin verb cognoscere, which means "to know" and which also gives us recognize and cognizance, among other words.
Synonyms
Examples of incognito in a Sentence
Ann Killion, SFChronicle.com, 2 July 2018
Around her chest, a Gucci fanny pack gave her look that subtle edge, while her trucker hat—from the Dogfish Head brewery!—and large sunglasses made the case for going incognito.
—Vogue, 16 Apr. 2019
Meanwhile, Rufus and Wyatt go incognito at a nearby plantation to find the sleeper and destroy the Confederate version of Gray’s Sports Almanac.
—Rachel Kaufman, Smithsonian, 13 May 2018
The entire visa appointment apparently only took ten minutes, and Markle seemingly tried to go incognito by wearing sunglasses and a White Sox cap the entire time.
—Lisa Ryan, The Cut, 12 Apr. 2018
So bad was secession fervor by then that Lincoln traveled incognito, Crofts writes, lest assassins kill him on the way.
—Avi Selk, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2017
But after months of remaining relatively incognito, as his supporters continue to push for the arrest of the other men involved in his attack, Harris became one of the men charged with a crime.
—Trymaine Lee, NBC News, 10 Oct. 2017
Dictionary Entries Near incognito
Cite this Entry
“Incognito.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incognito. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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