recognition

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of recognizing or condition of being recognized.
• noun An awareness that something perceived has been perceived before.
• noun An acceptance as true or valid, as of a claim.
• noun Attention or favorable notice.
• noun Official acceptance of the national status of a new government by another nation.
• noun Biology The ability of one molecule to attach itself to another molecule having a complementary shape, as in enzyme-substrate and antibody-antigen interactions.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A repeated cognition.
• noun This time minus the time required for the simple reaction.
• noun The act of recognizing; a knowing again; consciousness that a given object is identical with an object previously cognized.
• noun A formal avowal of knowledge and approval or sanction; acknowledgment: as, the recognition of one government by another as an independent sovereignty or as a belligerent.
• noun Cognizance; notice taken; acceptance.
• noun In Scots law, the recovery of lands by the proprietor when they fall to him by the fault of the vassal; or, generally, any return of the feu to the superior, by whatever ground of eviction.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of recognizing, or the state of being recognized; acknowledgment; formal avowal; knowledge confessed or avowed; notice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the act of recognizing or the condition of being recognized
• noun an awareness that something observed has been observed before
• noun acceptance as valid or true
• noun official acceptance of the status of a new government by that of another country
• noun honour, favourable note, or attention

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged
• noun an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid
• noun (biology) the ability of one molecule to attach to another molecule that has a complementary shape
• noun the explicit and formal acknowledgement of a government or of the national independence of a country
• noun coming to understand something clearly and distinctly
• noun approval
• noun designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body
• noun the process of recognizing something or someone by remembering