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Webster 1913 Edition


Recognize

Rec′og-nize

(rĕk′ŏg-nīz)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Recognized
(rĕk′ŏg-nīzd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Recognizing
(rĕk′ŏg-nīˊzĭng)
.]
[From
Recognizance
; see
Cognition
, and cf.
Reconnoiter
.]
[Written also
recognise
.]
1.
To know again; to perceive the identity of, with a person or thing previously known; to recover or recall knowledge of.
Speak, vassal;
recognize
thy sovereign queen.
Harte.
2.
To avow knowledge of; to allow that one knows; to consent to admit, hold, or the like; to admit with a formal acknowledgment;
as, to
recognize
an obligation; to
recognize
a consul.
3.
To acknowledge acquaintance with, as by salutation, bowing, or the like.
4.
To show appreciation of;
as, to
recognize
services by a testimonial
.
5.
To review; to reexamine.
[Obs.]
South.
6.
To reconnoiter.
[Obs.]
R. Monro.
Syn. – To acknowledge; avow; confess; own; allow; concede. See
Acknowledge
.

Rec′og-nize

,
Verb.
I.
(Law)
To enter an obligation of record before a proper tribunal;
as, A B
recognized
in the sum of twenty dollars
.
[Written also
recognise
.]
☞ In legal usage in the United States the second syllable is often accented.

Webster 1828 Edition


Recognize

RECOGNIZE

,
Verb.
T.
rec'onize. [L. recognosco; re and cognosco, to know. The g in these words has properly no sound in English.]
1.
To recollect or recover the knowledge of, either with an avowal of that knowledge or not. We recognize a person at a distance, when we recollect that we have seen him before, or that we have formerly known him. We recognize his features or his voice.
Speak, vassal; recognize thy sovereign queen.
2.
To review; to re-examine.

Definition 2024


recognize

recognize

See also: re-cognize

English

Alternative forms

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 entity.
    • 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 something; treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
    The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognize Kosovo on Monday.
  3. (transitive) To acknowledge or consider as something.
  4. (transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in; realize or admit that.
    • 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 give an award.
  6. To show appreciation of.
    to recognize services by a testimonial
  7. (obsolete) To review; to examine again.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)
  8. (obsolete) To reconnoiter.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of R. Monro to this entry?)
  9. (immunology) To have the property to bind to specific antigens.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From re- + cognize

Alternative forms

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.