recruit
Americannoun
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a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
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a new member of a group, organization, or the like.
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a fresh supply of something.
verb (used with object)
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to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.
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to raise (a force) by enlistment.
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to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.
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to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.
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to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).
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to attempt to acquire the services of (a person) for an employer.
She recruits executives for all the top companies.
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to attempt to enroll or enlist (a member, affiliate, student, or the like).
a campaign to recruit new club members.
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to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.
verb (used without object)
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to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.
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to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.
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to recover health, strength, etc.
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to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.
verb
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to enlist (men) for military service
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to raise or strengthen (an army, navy, etc) by enlistment
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(tr) to enrol or obtain (members, support, etc)
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to furnish or be furnished with a fresh supply; renew
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archaic to recover (health, strength, spirits, etc)
noun
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a newly joined member of a military service
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any new member or supporter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has recruitedperfect 3rd person singular
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have recruitedperfect
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have been recruitingperfect progressive
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are recruitingprogressive
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is recruitingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am recruitingprogressive 1st person singular
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recruitingparticiple
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recruitssingular 3rd person
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has been recruitingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had recruitedperfect
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were recruitingprogressive plural
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was recruitingprogressive singular
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had been recruitingperfect progressive
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recruitedparticiple
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recruitedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of recruit
First recorded in 1635–45; from French, stem of recruter, derivative of recrue “new growth,” noun use of feminine past participle of recroître ( re- re- + croître, from Latin crēscere “to grow”; cf. crescent)
Explanation
To recruit means to get someone to join something. You might recruit people for the navy or you might recruit members for your quilting group. The verb recruit often refers to formally joining an organization or a group, such as the military or a corporation. It can also be used more broadly to refer to getting someone to participate in a cause, formal or otherwise, like when you recruit your friend to help paint your room. As a noun, recruit means "a person who has been recruited." If you just joined the Army, you're a new recruit.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She said schools were struggling to recruit teachers in both urban and rural areas.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
The federal mail fraud indictment against Dutch Mendenhall, 46, relates to his management of funds including RAD Diversified REIT, a real estate business that advertised widely on social media to recruit investors.
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
SCHWEIZER: We finished 2025 with more BCGers than we started; we continue to recruit, promote and elect to partner in relatively normal bandwidths.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
Stearn, the sources said, has grown especially close with command staff in the Valley, who have invited him to attend police recruit graduations as their guest.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
My dad was a master of making things, and he was always trying to recruit me to join him in his projects, which I didn’t mind at all.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
