<p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>To identify as something or someone previously seen, known, etc.: He had changed so much that one could scarcely recognize him.</li><li>To identify from knowledge of appearance or characteristics: I recognized him from the description.</li><li>To perceive as existing or true; realize: to be the first to recognize a fact.</li><li>To acknowledge as the person entitled to speak at a particular time: The Speaker recognized the congressman from Maine.</li><li>To acknowledge formally as entitled to treatment as a political unit: The United States promptly recognized Israel.</li><li>To acknowledge or accept formally a specified factual or legal situation: to recognize a successful revolutionary regime as the de facto government of the country.</li><li>To acknowledge or treat as valid: to recognize a claim.</li><li>To acknowledge acquaintance with, as by a greeting, handshake, etc.</li><li>To show appreciation of (achievement, service, merit, etc.), as by some reward, public honor, or the like.</li><li>Law: to acknowledge (an illegitimate child) as one's own.</li><li>Biochemistry, Immunology: to bind with, cleave, or otherwise react to (another substance) as a result of fitting its molecular shape or a portion of its shape.</li></ul>