recruit
Americannoun
-
recruits
plural
-
a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
-
a new member of a group, organization, or the like.
-
a fresh supply of something.
verb (used with object)
-
recruits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recruited,
past participle, past
-
recruiting
present participle
-
to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.
-
to raise (a force) by enlistment.
-
to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.
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to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.
-
to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).
-
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.
-
to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.
verb (used without object)
-
recruits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recruited,
past participle, past
-
recruiting
present participle
-
to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.
-
to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.
-
to recover health, strength, etc.
-
to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.
verb
-
-
to enlist (men) for military service
-
to raise or strengthen (an army, navy, etc) by enlistment
-
-
(tr) to enrol or obtain (members, support, etc)
-
to furnish or be furnished with a fresh supply; renew
-
archaic to recover (health, strength, spirits, etc)
noun
-
a newly joined member of a military service
-
any new member or supporter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
recruitsimple
-
recruitssimple
-
have recruitedperfect
-
has recruitedperfect
-
am recruitingprogressive
-
are recruitingprogressive
-
is recruitingprogressive
-
have been recruitingperfect progressive
-
has been recruitingperfect progressive
Past
-
recruitedsimple
-
had recruitedperfect
-
was recruitingprogressive
-
were recruitingprogressive
-
had been recruitingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
The division is under pressure to show quick results, but it has struggled to recruit prosecutors and has been slowed by an internal turf war that has caused some promising investigations to languish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
It will require sustained resources to expand the fleet, with a more diverse mix of ships, and to recruit the sailors needed to man them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
A five-star recruit out of Florida Zephyrhills High, Pickett asked finalists LSU, Oregon, Miami and Georgia if he could wear No. 5.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Inquests into inmates' deaths heard claims of strained relations between the two firms, including Serco managers moving to other prisons and trying to recruit officers from Lowdham Grange.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
It was time for Dasch to help lay the groundwork and recruit some other men.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
More striking is the profile of this summer's recruits.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
New recruits have yet to offset retirements, and courts across the state remain critically understaffed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
According to his lawyers, Tan "repeatedly instructed recruits and his team not to bring or disclose former employers' confidential information."
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
AFC remains committed to creating a professional, supportive, and safe environment for all recruits, the Army told us, and "any suggestion otherwise contradicts the values of respect and inclusivity that we stand for".
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Between five and ten recruits fall to every old hand.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
Paralympic swimming trials was faster than the times she was putting up to be recruited for Division I schools.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
"They recruited US citizens to engage in sham marriages, arranged sham wedding ceremonies complete with officiants, wedding attire, photographers, and attendees," McDonald said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Brain imaging also indicated that regions responsible for processing language are not recruited for logical reasoning.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Despite the trends in activity and new work, services providers on average recruited additional staff in July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
They took up work in the stockyards, steel mills, and other industrial plants, accomplishing what they had been recruited to do.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Arsenal, meanwhile, have only sold fringe players Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Christian Norgaard, while signing first-teamers Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis, and recruiting last season's loanee Piero Hincapie on a permanent deal.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
“That was promised to him in recruiting here, for him to sign here,” Kiffin said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Investigators said the companies allegedly sought to conceal the identity of their Chinese financial backers while establishing "unauthorised" operations or "illegally" recruiting talent.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The state also alleges Amazon discouraged unionization by terminating or threatening to terminate delivery contractors whose workers attempted to organize and restricted competition among contractors through policies that prevented them from recruiting each other’s drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Don’t they allow you a budget for recruiting expenses?”
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
