Meaning & use
self-acknowledgement
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Meanings
noununcountable
The act of honestly admitting to yourself something that is true about you, especially a feeling, fault, or achievement.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it takes no plural and no 'a': say 'a moment of self-acknowledgement', not 'a self-acknowledgement'.
Patterns
- self-acknowledgement of something
- a moment of self-acknowledgement
- honest self-acknowledgement
Writing the letter was an act of self-acknowledgement: she finally admitted how angry she had been.
Real self-acknowledgement means saying 'I was wrong' without adding excuses.
For many people, self-acknowledgement of their own success is harder than admitting failure.
nouncountable or uncountableformal
Public or formal recognition that you have done something, or that something about you is true.
Grammar: Can be countable when it means a particular act of recognition: 'his self-acknowledgement as a survivor'.
Patterns
- self-acknowledgement as something
- a self-acknowledgement that …
The speech was a quiet self-acknowledgement that his career had come to an end.
Her memoir reads as a self-acknowledgement of the mistakes she made as a young manager.
Common combinations
- a moment of self-acknowledgement
- He paused for a moment of self-acknowledgement before answering.
- honest self-acknowledgement
- Honest self-acknowledgement is the first step toward changing a habit.
- self-acknowledgement of a feeling
- Therapy helped her reach self-acknowledgement of her grief.
- an act of self-acknowledgement
- Telling his family the truth was an act of self-acknowledgement.
- lack of self-acknowledgement
- His lack of self-acknowledgement kept him blaming everyone else.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-acceptance
- Self-acceptance is the calm result of accepting who you are; self-acknowledgement is the earlier step of admitting the fact in the first place.
- admission
- Admission usually means telling another person something difficult; self-acknowledgement happens inside your own mind.
- recognition
- Recognition is often about noticing something in the outside world, while self-acknowledgement turns that attention on yourself.
Opposites
Word family
- acknowledge verb
- to admit or accept that something is true
- acknowledgement noun
- an act of admitting or recognizing something
- self-aware adjective
- knowing your own character, feelings, and limits
- self-awareness noun
- the state of understanding your own feelings and behavior
Commonly confused: self-acknowledgement or self-recognition?
self-acknowledgement vs self-recognition
Self-recognition is mainly about identifying yourself (for example, in a mirror or in a description); self-acknowledgement is about admitting a truth about your character or actions.
Practice
Which sentence uses self-acknowledgement correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A self-acknowledgement of her jealousy' fits: the noun is uncountable and takes 'of' for the thing admitted. Option B confuses it with 'confession' or 'statement', which is what you give to the police; C treats it as a physical object; and D uses the noun where the verb 'acknowledge' is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-acknowledgement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.