Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Recognition has 9 different meanings across 1 category:
the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged
"the partners were delighted with the recognition of their work"
"she seems to avoid much in the way of recognition or acknowledgement of feminist work prior to her own"
the process of recognizing something or someone by remembering
"a politician whose recall of names was as remarkable as his recognition of faces"
"experimental psychologists measure the elapsed time from the onset of the stimulus to its recognition by the observer"
approval
"give her recognition for trying"
"he was given credit for his work"
"give her credit for trying"
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
"a growing realization of the risk involved"
"a sudden recognition of the problem he faced"
"increasing recognition that diabetes frequently coexists with other chronic diseases"
(biology) the ability of one molecule to attach to another molecule that has a complementary shape
"molecular recognition drives all of biology, for instance, hormone and receptor or antibody-antigen interactions or the organization of molecules into larger biologically active entities"
the explicit and formal acknowledgement of a government or of the national independence of a country
"territorial disputes were resolved in Guatemala's recognition of Belize in 1991"
an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid
"the recognition of the Rio Grande as a boundary between Mexico and the United States"
designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body
"he was unable to make his motion because he couldn't get recognition by the chairman"
The act of recognizing or the condition of being recognized (matching a current observation with a memory of a prior observation of the same entity).
"The security guard gave me recognition when I flashed my badge at the entrance."
In plain English: Recognition is when someone notices and acknowledges your efforts or identity.
"The crowd gave her a standing ovation as a sign of their recognition for her hard work."
Usage: Recognition refers to identifying someone or something from previous experience, such as remembering a familiar face. It is often confused with "recognition" in legal contexts regarding copyright ownership, but here it specifically means mental identification rather than formal acknowledgment.
The word "recognition" traveled into English through the Middle French form recognicion, which itself was borrowed from the Latin recognitio. Originally derived from a verb meaning to know again or identify someone familiarly, it entered our language with that same core sense of acknowledging identity.