Acknowledgment /(ăk*nŏl"ĕj*ment)/

Ac·knowl·edg·ment

Acknowledgment

n.
  1. The act of acknowledging; admission; avowal; owning; confession.
  2. The act of owning or recognizing in a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness; a statement acknowledging something or someone.
    Immediately upon the acknowledgment of the Christian faith, the eunuch was baptized by Philip.
  3. The owning of a benefit received; courteous recognition; the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged; an expression of thanks.
  4. Something given or done in return for a favor, message, etc.
  5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration.

Phrases & Compounds
Acknowledgment money
in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords.