Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use recognize in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Recognize means to match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing. Example: “I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different.”

Examples of recognize by meaning

verbTo match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same...

  • I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different.
  • The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.1973, John Berger, chapter 1, in Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC

verbTo 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.
  • The U.S. recognizes Canadian sovereignty over the islands bordering the passage but insists that the passage itself is an international waterway open to ships of all nations.1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 22

verbTo acknowledge or consider (as being a certain thing or having a certain quality or property).

  • Slavery is widely recognized as immoral.
  • I recognize that my behaviour has been unacceptable.
  • 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...

verbTo 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

verbTo show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc.

  • His services were recognized in a testimonial.
  • The soldier was recognized in dispatches.

More sentences with recognize

  • In his Pensées, Pascal mentioned some first principles recognized within his metaphysics: space, time, motion, and number.From the entry metaphysics
  • Knowledge consists in recognizing the difference between good and bad decisions.From the entry knowledge
  • Along with air, water, and food, shelter is often recognized as a human necessity.From the entry shelter
  • The principle was recognized by some of the early Greek philosophers who embodied it in their systems.From the entry embody
  • Grandpa's lost his marbles, but at least he still recognizes us.From the entry marbles
  • The television show host is widely recognized for his all-too-common locutions.From the entry locution
  • You can recognize this species of bird by the banding on the wing.From the entry banding
  • Recognizing one's self-worth is a necessary step to respecting the worth of others.From the entry self-worth
  • This species of tree is recognized by the excurrent veins in its leaves.From the entry excurrent
  • Nondeterministic bottom-up tree automaton recognize the class of regular tree languages.From the entry nondeterministic
  • I had to keep my head down so my ex wouldn't recognize me as I walked by.From the entry keep one's head down
  • My old DVD player could play DivX files but didn't recognize the subtitle file, so I had to burn them in.From the entry burn
  • While it is largely recognized that Ukraine holds de jure sovereignty on Crimea, Russia exercises de facto administration on the peninsula.From the entry de facto
  • My foreign exchange applet knows the currency codes for all officially recognized currencies, not just USD and GBP.From the entry currency code
  • The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area.From the entry nation
  • I filled in my name where the prompt appeared on the computer screen, but my account wasn't recognized.From the entry prompt
  • An engineer must recognize the difference between a constraint (to work within) and a problem (to be eliminated via resolution).From the entry constraint
  • The country recognized their defence vulnerability after an airplane landed in front of the central square without any consequences.From the entry vulnerability
  • Even though the concept is new to public scrutiny, pundits recognize that the web celeb archetype is profoundly affecting conventional media.From the entry web celeb
  • Everyone recognized its importance in some way or other.From the entry some something or other
  • I obviously didn't make much of a first impression with him, because he didn't recognize me from the party two weeks ago.From the entry first impression
  • My dad is such an armchair quarterback; he recognizes every bad decision the coach makes as soon as the play is over and he knows whether or not it worked.From the entry armchair quarterback
  • They live in both Canada and the United States, but are only officially recognized in the U.S.2025 March 9, Luke Beirne, “Peskotomuhkati chief, 79, battles a ticking clock in fight for formal recognition”, in CBC News. From the entry Peskotomuhkati
  • The Poarch Creek Indians is the only federally recognized tribe in Alabama.2024 October 15, “Poarch Creek Indians celebrate Indigenous People’s Day”, in Fox 10 News. From the entry Mvskoke
  • Particularly in the realm of personality disorders, the importance of dimensional models is being increasingly recognized.2024 January, Eamonn Arble, “Antisocial Personality Traits, Substance Use, and Somatization: A Brief Consideration of Their…. From the entry intradiagnostic
  • At Eleusis, there were three places recognized as entrances to the Underworld.2024, Gwendolyn Reece, “The Mysteries”, in The Waters of Mnemosyne: Ancient Greek Religion for Modern Pagans, Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn…. From the entry Ploutonian
  • Napoléon always recognized Talleyrand’s value but would often question his loyalty.2023, Jim Libby, “The Measurement of All Things”, in French Discovery in an Age of Revolution: World-Changing Scientific and Technological…. From the entry Napoléon
  • Democratic countries should clearly recognize and unify against the challenge of authoritarian intervention.2022, “September 25, 2022”, in Mainland Affairs Council, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2023, Chronology. From the entry authoritarian
  • Destination stakeholders have increasingly recognized the importance of the “Instagrammability” of places.2021, Velvet Nelson, An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism, page 303. From the entry Instagrammability
  • Seth recognizes one, Aina, from her rainbow kandi-kid-style bracelets and hair ties.2021, Konn Lavery, Rave. From the entry kandi kid

Meaning of recognize

  1. verb To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
  2. verb To acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
  3. verb To acknowledge or consider (as being a certain thing or having a certain quality or property).

Full definition of recognize

Questions about recognize in a sentence

How do you use recognize in a sentence?
Recognize is used as a verb. For example: “I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different.”
What is a short sentence with recognize?
“Slavery is widely recognized as immoral.”
What does recognize mean?
Recognize means to match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: recognize (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use recognize in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/recognize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.