The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Recognition \Rec`og*ni"tion\ (r[e^]k`[o^]g*n[i^]sh"[u^]n), n.
   [L. recognitio: cf. F. recognition. See Recognizance.]
   The act of recognizing, or the state of being recognized;
   acknowledgment; formal avowal; knowledge confessed or avowed;
   notice.
   [1913 Webster]

         The lives of such saints had, at the time of their
         yearly memorials, solemn recognition in the church of
         God.                                     --Hooker.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

recognition
    n 1: the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged;
         "the partners were delighted with the recognition of their
         work"; "she seems to avoid much in the way of recognition
         or acknowledgement of feminist work prior to her own" [syn:
         recognition, acknowledgment, acknowledgement]
    2: the process of recognizing something or someone by
       remembering; "a politician whose recall of names was as
       remarkable as his recognition of faces"; "experimental
       psychologists measure the elapsed time from the onset of the
       stimulus to its recognition by the observer" [syn:
       recognition, identification]
    3: approval; "give her recognition for trying"; "he was given
       credit for his work"; "give her credit for trying" [syn:
       recognition, credit]
    4: coming to understand something clearly and distinctly; "a
       growing realization of the risk involved"; "a sudden
       recognition of the problem he faced"; "increasing recognition
       that diabetes frequently coexists with other chronic
       diseases" [syn: realization, realisation, recognition]
    5: (biology) the ability of one molecule to attach to another
       molecule that has a complementary shape; "molecular
       recognition drives all of biology, for instance, hormone and
       receptor or antibody-antigen interactions or the organization
       of molecules into larger biologically active entities"
    6: the explicit and formal acknowledgement of a government or of
       the national independence of a country; "territorial disputes
       were resolved in Guatemala's recognition of Belize in 1991"
    7: an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid; "the
       recognition of the Rio Grande as a boundary between Mexico
       and the United States"
    8: designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak
       in a deliberative body; "he was unable to make his motion
       because he couldn't get recognition by the chairman"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

152 Moby Thesaurus words for "recognition":
   acceptance, acclaim, acknowledgment, action, admission, allowance,
   anagnorisis, angle, apperception, appreciation, appreciativeness,
   architectonics, architecture, argument, assimilation, atmosphere,
   attention, avowal, awareness, background, benediction, blurb,
   boost, bringing to light, buildup, casual discovery, catastrophe,
   catching, celebrity, chance discovery, character, characterization,
   cognition, cognizance, color, commendation, complication,
   concession, confession, consciousness, continuity, contrivance,
   credit, crediting, declaration, denouement, design, detection,
   determination, determining, development, device, disclosure,
   discovery, distinguishment, due, eclat, episode, espial,
   excavation, exhumation, exposure, fable, falling action, fame,
   famousness, figure, find, finding, finding out, gimmick, glory,
   good word, grace, honor, honorable mention, hymn, hype,
   identification, incident, insight, invention, kudos, line,
   local color, locating, location, lucky strike, mindfulness, mood,
   motif, movement, mythos, name, noesis, note, notice, notoriety,
   notoriousness, paean, perception, peripeteia, plan, plot, plug,
   popularity, praise, prayer of thanks, profession, promotion,
   publicity, puff, realization, reclame, rediscovery,
   reidentification, renown, report, reputation, repute, revelation,
   right, rising action, scheme, secondary plot, sensibility,
   serendipity, slant, spotting, story, strike, structure, subject,
   subplot, switch, thank offering, thank-you, thanks, thanksgiving,
   the bubble reputation, thematic development, theme, tone, topic,
   treasure trove, trouvaille, trove, twist, uncovering, unearthing,
   vogue, what is owing



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

RECOGNITION, contracts. An acknowledgment that something which has been done
by one man in the name of another, was done by authority of the latter.
     2. A recognition by the principal of the agency of another in the
particular instance, or in similar instances, is evidence of the authority
of the agent, so that the recognition may be either express or implied. As
an instance of an implied recognition may be mentioned the case of one who
subscribes policies in the name of another and, upon a loss happening, the
latter pays the amount. 1 Camp. R. 43, n. a; 1 Esp. Cas. 61; 4 Camp. R. 88.