acknowledged

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of acknowledge.

   The committee acknowledged receipt of the application within a day.

   He acknowledged her contribution in front of the whole team.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. It is the simple past (she acknowledged the letter) and the participle after have or be (it has been acknowledged), and it also serves as the "generally accepted" adjective. Every use of acknowledge takes an object, so the passive comes easily: receipt was acknowledged, a deed acknowledged in legal form. In that passive use the participle shades toward the adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Generally accepted, recognized, or admitted to be the case.

   She is the acknowledged authority on medieval manuscripts.

   Their acknowledged success made the startup a model for competitors.

   Similarrecognized, accepted, established, undisputed

   Oppositeunrecognized, disputed

   Note

   A participle that has settled into an adjective, and it can be graded: one scholar may be more acknowledged than another, and the most acknowledged experts are those whose standing nobody disputes. It sits comfortably before a noun, as in the acknowledged leader or an acknowledged classic, where it presents the recognition as already in place rather than happening now.

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