Other forms: acknowledged, acknowledging, acknowledges
To acknowledge something is to admit openly that it is true. Acknowledge the mistake, widely acknowledged, he acknowledged as much.
It also means to confirm that you have received something — acknowledge receipt, acknowledge the email — and to give somebody credit: acknowledge her contribution, the acknowledgements page of a book. And it means to greet or notice somebody: he did not acknowledge me at all. Note acknowledgement, which is spelled with or without the middle e, both accepted, with the e commoner in British English.
1verbacknowledgeTo admit openly that something is true.
“He finally acknowledged that he had made a mistake.”
2verbconfirmTo confirm receiving something.
“Nobody acknowledged the letter for about three weeks.”
3verbgiveTo give somebody credit or notice them.
“Her work is acknowledged in about two lines at the back.”
acknowledge is an admitting or recognising.
The word is a Middle English blend of the old verb aknow, to recognise, with knowledge. It is a rare case of English building a verb out of a noun that had itself been built out of a verb.
Old English
oncnāwan — to know, recognize, acknowledge
Middle English
aknowen — to recognize, acknowledge
English, today
acknowledge
Built from
Recorded since 1553, a blend of Middle English aknowen (“to recognize, acknowledge”) and knowlechen (“to discover, reveal, acknowledge”). The former verb is from Old English oncnāwan (“to know, recognize, acknowledge”), from on + cnāwan (“to know”). The latter is derived from the noun at hand in knowledge. For the formation compare Latin agnōscō and Russian призна́ть, with cognate roots. The -sound was preserved by being redistributed to the preceding syllable: >. The -c- was inserted accordingly to reflect this pronunciation more clearly.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA