Recognize Meaning
/ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
verbTo acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
Sentence Examples
I wonder if she will recognize me after all those years.
Not having seen him before, I'll not be able to recognize him.
We recognize the necessity for a written agreement.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher could ____ each student's handwriting because it was so unique.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The government was slow to ____ the severity of the crisis and delayed its response.
Word Origin & History
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. Latin had rare recognizare (“to try by jury”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
"Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak."
— 1973, John Berger, chapter 1, in Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC:
"“The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. Our two democracies share common values of individual freedom, the rule of law, and a respect for human dignity. Today’s statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy,” Pompeo wrote."
— 2021 January 9, Kylie Atwood, quoting Mike Pompeo, “US lifts self-imposed restrictions with Taiwan”, in CNN, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2021:
"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."
— 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
"We do moste humbly submytte it [this treatise] to[…]your maiestie, to be recognised, ouersene, and corrected."
— 1534, Thomas Cranmer, The Institution of a Christian Man:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher could ____ each student's handwriting because it was so unique.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The government was slow to ____ the severity of the crisis and delayed its response.