What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Familiar vs Recognise - What's the difference?

familiar | recognise |

As an adjective familiar

is familial.

As a verb recognise is

to match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.

familiar

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Known to one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}
  • Acquainted.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}
  • Intimate or friendly.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Be thou familiar , but by no means vulgar.
  • Inappropriately intimate or friendly.
    • (Camden)
  • Of or pertaining to a family; familial.
  • * Byron
    • familiar feuds

    Synonyms

    * (acquainted) acquainted * close, friendly, intimate, personal * (inappropriately intimate or friendly) cheeky, fresh, impudent

    Antonyms

    * (known to one) unfamiliar, unknown * (acquainted) unacquainted * (intimate) cold, cool, distant, impersonal, standoffish, unfriendly

    Derived terms

    * overfamiliar * familiarity * familiarly

    Related terms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A member of one's family or household.
  • (obsolete) A close friend.
  • *, II.i.4.2:
    • a friend of mine, that finding a receipt in Brassavola, would needs take hellebore in substance, and try it on his own person; but had not some of his familiars come to visit him by chance, he had by his indiscretion hazarded himself; many such I have observed.
  • An attendant spirit, often in animal form.
    • The witch’s familiar was a black cat.

    External links

    * ----

    recognise

    English

    Alternative forms

    * recognize (US )

    Verb

    (recognis)
  • To match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.
  • To acknowledge the existence or legality of something; treat as worthy of consideration or valid.
  • To acknowledge or consider as something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
    • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.}}
  • To realise or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in; realise or admit that.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1913, author=
    • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad, chapter=4 citation , passage=“[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]”}}
  • To give an award.

    • Anagrams

    *