Word.ws English Dictionary

acknow

UK/əkˈnəʊ/US/əkˈnoʊ/

acknow verb: to recognize.

Verb

acknow (third-person singular simple present acknows, present participle acknowing, simple past acknew, past participle acknown)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To recognize.
    • You will not be acknown, sir; why, 'tis wise.
      Thus do all gamesters, at all games, dissemble:
      No man will seem to win.1606, Ben Jonson, Volpone, act 5, scene 4
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To acknowledge; confess (often with "of" or "on"), reveal, disclose, realize
    • We say of a stubborn body that standeth still in the denying of his fault, This man will not acknowledge his fault, or, He will not be acknown of his fault.1532, Sir Thomas More, The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer
    • Three years in his employment a secret agent in the Post Office Department, who obtained for him the first knowledge of the star route frauds, and placed it at his disposal before it Acknown to be suspected by either the public or the Government.1883 June 4, “Imprudent Mr. Hendricks”, in New York Times (Features), New York

Forms of acknow

third-person singular presentacknows
present participleacknowing
pastacknew
past participleacknown

Origin of acknow

From Middle English aknowen, from Old English ācnāwan, oncnāwan (“to know, recognize”), equivalent to a- + know.

Words formed from acknow

Words that rhyme with acknow

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about acknow

What does acknow mean?
Acknow means to recognize.
What part of speech is acknow?
Acknow is a verb.
How do you pronounce acknow?
Acknow is pronounced /əkˈnəʊ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of acknow?
The past tense of acknow is acknew.

Words near acknow in the dictionary

  1. Acklington
  2. Acklins
  3. Ackman
  4. Ackmans
  5. acknew
  6. acknow
  7. acknowelege
  8. acknowing
  9. acknowlage
  10. acknowledg
  11. acknowledge

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acknow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “acknow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/acknow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.