Dictionary

acknow en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /əkˈnəʊ/ (UK)
• /ækˈnoʊ/ (US)
• /əkˈnoʊ/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle English aknowen, from Old English ācnāwan, oncnāwan (“to know, recognize”), equivalent to a- + know.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To recognize.
   • You will not be acknown, sir; why, 'tis wise. Thus do all gamesters, at all games, dissemble: No man will seem to win. 1606, Ben Jonson, Volpone, act 5, scene 4:
2. (obsolete, transitive) To acknowledge; confess (often with "of" or "on"), reveal, disclose, realize
   • We say of a stubborn body that standeth still in the denying of his fault, This man will not acknowledge his fault, or, He will not be acknown of his fault. 1532, Sir Thomas More, The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer:
   • Three years in his employment a secret agent in the Post Office Department, who obtained for him the first knowledge of the star route frauds, and placed it at his disposal before it Acknown to be suspected by either the public or the Government. 1883 June 4, “Imprudent Mr. Hendricks”, in New York Times (Features), New York:

Forms

Deriveds

acknowledge