recognize
verb
Simple meaning
To acknowledge the existence or legality of.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehkuhgnyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
transitive
To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
transitiveor 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.
To cognize again
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
Used this way, recognize is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use recognize
- “My work is not recognized by anybody!”verb
- “The Regents officially recognized the new educational institution.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.