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Understanding Ken
Need a word that can encompass all that one perceives, understands, or knows? It’s just ken. Of course, whether someone is a president, writer, physicist, diplomat, journalist, or even a stereotypical Barbie, everyone has their own personal ken. So when someone says something is “beyond” it, they’re not admitting to being a gosling, only that the topic or question at hand is beyond their particular range of knowledge or expertise. Ken appeared on the English horizon in the 16th century referring to the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea (about 20 miles), and would thus have been familiar to skippers in particular. Its meaning soon broadened, however, to mean “range of vision” or “sight” on land or sea. Today ken rarely suggests literal sight, but rather the extent of what one can metaphorically “see.” And that, as they say, is enough.
Examples of ken in a Sentence
Steven Aquino, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
Horrifying but not outside my ken of credulity.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2021
What had been beyond the ken of my comprehension even into adolescence was a nuisance for this individual in their elementary school years.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 30 June 2010
For that reason, or for reasons beyond the ken of a public-high-school boy from Kansas City, Missouri, about all a male needed in those days in order to be brought along to a débutante party by some legitimate invitee was a tuxedo and a pulse.
—The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2022
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Dictionary Entries Near ken
Cite this Entry
“Ken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ken. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ken
2 of 2 noun
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