recognise

Verb

recognize (third-person singular simple present recognizes, present participle recognizing, simple past and past participle recognized)

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
   • I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different.

   Synonyms:

   place

2. (British, English, Oxford, US, 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. (British, English, Oxford, US, 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.
4. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in.
   • 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
5. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc.
   • His services were recognized in a testimonial.
6. (British, English, Oxford, US, obsolete) To review; to examine again.
   • 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

See all 9 meanings of recognize