recognition
UK: ˌrekəɡˈnɪʃn | US: ˌrekəɡˈnɪʃn
n. the act of identifying someone or something from previous encounters or knowledge
n. acknowledgment of something's existence, validity, or legality
n. formal appreciation or reward for achievement
Derived from Latin recognitio (from recognoscere: re- "again" + cognoscere "to know"). The morpheme cogni traces back to Proto-Indo-European *gno-, meaning "to know," shared by words like cognition and ignore. The prefix re- emphasizes repetition or retrospective action, while -tion nominalizes the verb. The word evolved through Old French reconissance before entering Middle English with its modern spelling and dual sense of "identifying" and "acknowledging."
Her face lit up with instant recognition when she saw her childhood friend.
The government granted official recognition to the new political party.
His groundbreaking research earned him international recognition.
The software uses pattern recognition to identify objects in images.
She nodded in quiet recognition of the difficult truth.