acknowledgeverb [ T ]
uk/əkˈnɒl.ɪdʒ/us/əkˈnɑː.lɪdʒ/C1 to accept, admit, or recognize something, or the truth or existence of something:
[ + -ing verb ] She acknowledged having been at fault.
[ + that ] She acknowledged that she had been at fault.
You must acknowledge the truth of her argument.
Historians generally acknowledge her as a genius in her field.
[ + obj + to infinitive ] She is usually acknowledged to be one of our best artists.
They refused to acknowledge (= to recognize officially) the new government.
He didn't even acknowledge my presence (= show that he had seen me).
The government won't even acknowledge the existence of the problem.
C1 to tell someone, usually in a letter or email, that you have received something they sent you:
Please acknowledge receipt of this letter.
More examples
- Always acknowledge your sources at the end of an essay.
- The government has acknowledged that homelessness is a problem but it has failed to grasp the scale of the problem.
- It is widely acknowledged that the welfare system is under-resourced.
- She acknowledged me with a quick bob of her head.
- I regarded her failure to acknowledge my greeting as a slight.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Admitting & confessing
- acknowledgment
- admit
- admittedly
- avow
- back down
- climb
- come clean idiom
- concessionary
- deny
- eat
- eat your words idiom
- hand
- I stand corrected idiom
- make a clean breast of it idiom
- own up
- retract
- say
- self-confessed
- swallow
- take sth back
See more results »