What does reconnaissance mean?
Word: Reconnaissance
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Reconnaissance means the work of exploring an area to gather information about it before a bigger task, such as an expedition, a building project or a film shoot.
Synonyms: exploration
Word origin: Borrowed from French around 1810; English had already taken the matching verb, reconnoitre, in the early 1700s.
How do you spell reconnaissance?
Syllables: re - con - nais - sance
Tricky part: The word carries two pairs of doubled letters, nn and ss, and the vowels between them are ai; reconaissance and reconnaisance each lose one twin.
Watch out for: reconaissance, reconnaisance, reconnaissence
Memory tip: Two pairs of scouts walk ahead of the trekking group: one pair for the n's and one pair for the s's.
Reconnaissance in a sentence
Example 1: The film crew did a reconnaissance of the old haveli a week before shooting began.
Example 2: Satellites carry out reconnaissance of forests to check how much tree cover is being lost.
Example 3: Before the school trip, two teachers went on a reconnaissance to find the safest picnic spot.
Fun Fact
In British English the word is often shortened to recce, said 'recky', and film and television crews use it for a visit to check a place before shooting.
Practise the CREST Way
Back to the Roots
Choose the correct option:
Reconnaissance came into English from French. In everyday French, the same word means ___.
a) rebirth
b) recognition
c) reminder
d) resistance
Show answer
b) recognition. French reconnaissance comes from reconnaitre, to recognise, and in French it can also mean gratitude; rebirth is renaissance, a different word.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
Before the trek, our guide made a quick reconnaissance of the trail and warned us that the wooden bridge over the stream was slipery and narow.
a) 3
b) 0
c) 2
d) 1
Show answer
c) 2. Slippery and narrow both double a letter: slippery its p and narrow its r, so there are 2 errors.
Spell Probe
One word in the sentence is misspelt. Choose the meaning of that word:
The research team's reconnaissance of the coastline showed that the mangroves had spread, giving sheltar to crabs and young fish among their roots.
a) trees that grow in salty water along tropical coasts
b) the land along the edge of the sea
c) protection from bad weather or danger
d) the work of exploring an area to collect information
Show answer
c) protection from bad weather or danger. The error is sheltar: the last vowel of shelter is e. Reconnaissance, coastline and mangroves need no change.
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) bureaucrasy
b) connoisseur
c) entrepreneur
d) reconnaissance
Show answer
a) bureaucrasy. Bureaucracy ends in cracy, the same ending as democracy; the other three borrowed words are correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A geologist doing reconnaissance in the hills would most likely be ___.
a) teaching a class about volcanoes
b) selling maps to the tourists
c) writing up the final report
d) taking a first look at the rocks
Show answer
d) taking a first look at the rocks
2. Which word is closest in meaning to reconnaissance?
a) surrender
b) summary
c) survey
d) surprise
Show answer
c) survey
