different between recognize vs acknowledge

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???k??na?z/, (sometimes proscribed) /???k?na?z/

Etymology 1

Borrowed 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.

Alternative forms

• recognise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     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.

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

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

4. (transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in.
5. (transitive) To show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc.

6. (obsolete) To review; to examine again.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)
7. (obsolete) To reconnoiter.
   • 1637, Robert Monro, Monro, His Expedition With the Worthy Scots Regiment Called Mac-Keys

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

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From re- +? cognize.

Alternative forms

• 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)

1. to cognize again

English

Alternative forms

• acknowledg (obsolete)
• acknowelege (obsolete)

Etymology

Recorded since 1553, a blend of Middle English knowlechen (“to discover, reveal, acknowledge”) and aknowen (“to recognize, acknowledge”); the latter from Old English oncn?wan, ?cn?wan (“to know, recognize, acknowledge”), from on + cn?wan (“to know”). Notice the preservation of /k/ word-internally (regularly spelled with ck as in back) while being lost word-initially. The prefix might have been influenced by Anglo-Norman a- (“on-, to-”). See knowledge.

For the formation compare Latin agn?sc? and Russian ????????? (priznát?), with cognate roots.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?n?.l?d?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æk?n??.l?d?/, [?k?n??l?d?], [?k?n??l?d?], [???n??l?d?], [???n??l?d?]
• Hyphenation US: ac?knowl?edge, UK: ac?know?ledge

Verb

acknowledge (third-person singular simple present acknowledges, present participle acknowledging, simple past and past participle acknowledged)

1. (transitive) To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in
   • 1611, King James Version, Psalm 51:3

     I acknowledge my transgressions.

   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, Chapter 1

     For ends generally acknowledged to be good.
2. To own or recognize in a particular quality, character or relationship; to admit the claims or authority of; to give recognition to.
   • 1611, King James Version, Proverbs 3:6

     In all thy ways acknowledge Him.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, III-v

     By my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee.

3. To be grateful of (e.g. a benefit or a favour)
4. To report (the receipt of a message to its sender).

5. To own as genuine or valid; to assent to (a legal instrument) to give it validity; to avow or admit in legal form.

Usage notes

• Acknowledge is opposed to keep back, or conceal, and supposes that something had been previously known to us (though perhaps not to others) which we now feel bound to lay open or make public. Thus, a man acknowledges a secret marriage; one who has done wrong acknowledges his fault; and author acknowledges his obligation to those who have aided him; we acknowledge our ignorance.
• Recognize supposes that we have either forgotten or not had the evidence of a thing distinctly before our minds, but that now we know it (as it were) anew, or receive and admit it on the grounds of the evidence it brings. Thus, we recognize a friend after a long absence. We recognize facts, principles, truths, etc., when their evidence is brought up fresh to the mind. A foreign minister, consul, or agent, of any kind, is recognized on the ground of his producing satisfactory credentials.
• See also confess

Synonyms

• avow, proclaim, recognize, own, admit, allow, concede, confess

Derived terms

Related terms

• acknowledgment

Translations

References

• acknowledge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.