recognize definition

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/, (sometimes proscribed) /ˈɹɛk.ən.aɪz/, /ˈɹɛk.ɪɡ.naɪz/

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Etymology 1

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.

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.

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

   • 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.

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

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

   Slavery is widely recognized as immoral.

   I recognize that my behaviour has been unacceptable.

4. (transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in.
   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     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.

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

   His services were recognized in a testimonial.

   The soldier was recognized in dispatches.

6. (obsolete) To review; to examine again.
   • 1534, Thomas Cranmer, The Institution of a Christian Man:

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

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