Word definition: recognize

Etimology


Borrowed from Middle French reconoistre, from Old French reconoistre, from Latin recognoscere, first attested in the 16th century. Displaced native English acknow (“to recognize, perceive as”), compare German erkennen and Swedish erkänna.

verb


recognize (third-person singular simple present recognizes, present participle recognizing, simple past and past participle recognized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

(transitive) To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.

(transitive) To acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.

(transitive, or with clause) To acknowledge or consider (as being a certain thing or having a certain quality or property).

(transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in.

(transitive) To show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc.

(obsolete) To review; to examine again.

(obsolete) To reconnoiter.

(immunology) To have the property to bind to specific antigens.

Examples


I recognised his face immediately, although his voice was different.

He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the old days when, as an idle boy, he had loafed about the market-house.

The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognize Kosovo on Monday.

Slavery is widely recognized as immoral.

I recognize that my behaviour has been unacceptable.

In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

His services were recognized in a testimonial.

The soldier was recognized in dispatches.

We do moste humbly submytte it [this treatise] to […] your maiestie, to be recognised, ouersene, and corrected.

before the siege was layd to the Towne, of minde to recognize, he fell unawares amongst an Ambushcade

Related words


related terms

acknowledge

recognition

reconnaissance

Etimology


From re- +‎ cognize.

verb


recognize (third-person singular simple present recognizes, present participle recognizing, simple past and past participle recognized) (North American and Oxford British spelling)

to cognize again

Data provided by Wiktionary