recognise

• recognize (US)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛkənaɪz/, /ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪz/

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recognise (third-person singular simple present recognises, present participle recognising, simple past and past participle recognised)

1. (transitive) To match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.
2. (transitive) To acknowledge the existence or legality of something; treat as worthy of consideration or valid.

   The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognise Kosovo on Monday.

3. (transitive) To acknowledge or consider as something.
   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.

4. (transitive) To realise or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in; realise or admit that.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]”

5. (transitive) To give an award.

• cinegoers, congeries