【Acknowledge】 and 【Recognize】 agree in meaning to take cognizance of in some way, usually in a way dictated by custom or convention and implying acceptance or assent.

【Acknowledge】 is found in certain idioms where the concrete method of taking notice is not stated but connoted; one acknowledges a letter by sending a reply; one acknowledges a gift by a message indicating the receipt ami acceptance of the gift and one's gratitude; one acknowledges a greeting by an appropriate conventional response (as a bow, smile, or friendly remark).

In freer expression 【acknowledge】 usually implies definite or formal acceptance, as of a principle as binding or of a claim as rightful or of a person as ruler.

• He acknowledged the obligation of a son to support his aged parents.
• In Italy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there were two acknowledged sources of political power: the Empire and the Church.
  — Huxley

【Recognize】 , though often used interchangeably with 【acknowledge】 , suggests more strongly authoritative sanction or full admission concerning a given or implied status or suggests actual and manifest, as contrasted with formal or merely verbal, acceptance.

• In 1918 England, France, and the United States recognized Czechoslovakia as an independent state.
• the ladies never acted so well as when they were in the presence of a fact which they acknowledged but did not 【recognize】
  — Meredith

【Recognize】 sometimes implies, as 【acknowledge】 never does, full realization or comprehension.

• courts . . . have been . . . slow to 【recognize】 that statutes . . . may imply a policy different from that of the common law
  —Justice Holmesy

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