Agnize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To recognize or acknowledge someone or something as familiar or true
2. To identify or admit the existence or validity of a person, fact, or situation
3. To perceive or accept the presence, qualities, or reality of an entity or concept

Etymology: "Agnize" is a rare verb that English borrowed directly from Latin "agnōscere", meaning "to recognize" or "to know again." The Latin verb is built from "ad-", "to" or "toward," and "gnōscere", "to know," which goes back to the same Indo-European root that gave English "know" and "can" in the sense of knowing how. The prefix's assimilated form "ag-" appears before the "g" of "gnōscere," a common pattern in Latin compounds, so the Latin verb literally means something like "to know toward" or "to recognize." English speakers adopted the word as a learned borrowing, so it kept the Latin sense of recognition rather than picking up the everyday meanings that native English words developed over centuries. Its closest relatives in English are the ones it shares with Latin: "cognize," "recognize," and "acknowledge," which share the same "to know" root but reached English by different routes. Because "agnize" never became part of everyday speech, it has stayed a specialized, slightly formal choice for saying you know someone or something is real or true.

Synonyms: recognize, acknowledge, realize, perceive, discern

Antonyms: ignore, overlook, disregard, miss, neglect