noun

1. 1. a recognizing or being recognized; acknowledgment; admission, as of a fact
   2. acknowledgment and approval, gratitude, etc. in recognition of her services
2. formal acknowledgment by a government of the independence and sovereignty of a state newly created, as by secession, or of a government newly set up, as by revolution
3. identification of some person or thing as having been known before or as being of a certain kind
4. notice, as in passing; greeting; salutation

Etymology: L recognitio < recognitus, pp. of recognoscere: see recognizance