Literary notes about acknowledgment (AI summary)
The term “acknowledgment” in literature carries a variety of nuances, serving as both a subtle expression of gratitude and an overt confirmation of recognition or duty. Authors use it to mark moments of interpersonal connection—whether it’s a character’s self-assured pride in being recognized ([1]) or the gentle confirmation of love in dialogue ([2])—while also deploying it as a formal admission of accountability or indebtedness ([3], [4]). It can evoke complex social dynamics, from the unspoken nod to a shared duty or inferiority ([5], [6]) to the acknowledgment of a deeper, even spiritual understanding ([7], [8]). In this way, “acknowledgment” works as a linguistic tool that encapsulates both the individual’s internal acceptance and the external affirmation dictated by societal or cultural structures ([9], [10]).
- “At the Wellington,” said Carrie, who permitted herself a touch of pride in the acknowledgment.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - And you do love me, Helen?’ said I, not doubting the fact, but wishing to hear it confirmed by her own acknowledgment.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - I should make formal acknowledgment to the authors whom I have pillaged in the following pages if I could recollect them all.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw - "No officer," he said, "had ever received from any country a higher acknowledgment of his services.
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey - If once I began to creep upon my knees I should always have to do so, and it would be a patent acknowledgment of inferiority.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - And what he means by a common acknowledgment of right he explains at large, showing that a republic cannot be administered without justice.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - That the communication of thy faith may be made evident in the acknowledgment of every good work that is in you in Christ Jesus.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - All three were acts of faith and acknowledgment of a power greater than man.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis - We are to judge with more reverence, and with greater acknowledgment of our own ignorance and infirmity, of the infinite power of nature.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne - It is a strange notion that the acknowledgment of a first principle is inconsistent with the admission of secondary ones.
— from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
