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• reconciliation
  reconciliation

  noun

  the act of coming to an understanding and putting an end to hostility, as when former enemies agree to an amicable truce.
• Reconciliation
  Reconciliation

  noun

  RC Church a sacrament in which repentant sinners are absolved and gain reconciliation with God and the Church, on condition of confession of their sins to a priest and of performing a penance

reconciliation

American  

[rek-uhn-sil-ee-ey-shuhn] / ˌrɛk ənˌsɪl iˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

• reconciliations
  plural

1. the act of coming to an understanding and putting an end to hostility, as when former enemies agree to an amicable truce.

   Thirty years later, the rebel son is seeking reconciliation with his mother and sister.

   Reconciliation between the government and the Indigenous community will take more than pleasant words.

2. the state of being resigned to something undesirable, or the process of achieving this state; acceptance.

   Telling them about her son as he was before the accident gave her a sense of peace and reconciliation with her loss.

3. the act or process of making consistent or compatible.

   There is a tension between justice and mercy, and their reconciliation is not easy or obvious.

4. the act or process of verifying one account or set of figures with another to ensure or test for accuracy.

   Reconciliation of the sum of money received and the number of tickets sold revealed a few reporting errors.

5. U.S. Government. a Congressional procedure under which a simple majority of votes in the Senate is enough to pass legislation relating to the federal budget: used in order to avoid a potential filibuster.

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Reconciliation British  

/ ˌrɛkənˌsɪlɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. RC Church a sacrament in which repentant sinners are absolved and gain reconciliation with God and the Church, on condition of confession of their sins to a priest and of performing a penance

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Usage

What does reconciliation mean? Reconciliation is the process of two people or groups in a conflict agreeing to make amends or come to a truce. Reconciliation is also the name of a Catholic sacrament involving the confession of sin. Less commonly, reconciliation refers to when someone accepts an undesirable situation, or to the process of making things compatible. Example: After years of conflict, the two parties have agreed to meet with the goal of reconciliation.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreconciliation
  noun
• prereconciliation
  noun
• proreconciliation
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reconciliations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reconciliation

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English reconsiliacion, from Latin reconciliātiōn-, stem of reconciliātiō “renewal, restoration,” from reconciliāt(us) “restored, reunited” (past participle of reconciliāre “to repair, restore, reunite”; see reconcile) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Reconciliation is the act of getting two things to be compatible with one another. You might have a reconciliation with a former enemy, or your mom might call for a reconciliation between your spending habits and your diminishing bank account. If you want to do something on Friday night, but your friend is trying to save money, going to a free art gallery opening would be a reconciliation of both your desires. Reconciliation can also mean the reestablishment of civil relations after a conflict. If you and your friend got into an argument over what to do Friday night, you’d need to have a reconciliation before you go hang out.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reconciliation Reconciliation reconciliations

A lot of the reconciliation would be up to the candidates themselves.

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026

Fujimori recently called for reconciliation between the country's political camps, but the appeal did not go down well with the families of victims of state violence.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

There are plenty, including former captain Gary Neville, who feel Rashford's time at Old Trafford is over and there should be no reconciliation.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Budget reconciliation is the process by which lawmakers can pass spending and tax legislation with a simple Senate majority.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

A man utterly devoted to his people, but at the same time he was bent on reconciliation between the races in America.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

Laura Bonilla, deputy director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, said the attacks were an attempt by Mordisco's group to gain leverage in negotiations with local communities.

From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026

In 1996, he sharply criticized the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which cut federal benefits for many legal immigrants.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 conditioned the most important forms of direct welfare payments on employment or the search for employment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Timothy Ryback is the director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague.

From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2025

Reconciliation with enemies is necessary, in order that peace may be maintained.

From Moral Theology A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities by Callan, Charles Jerome

As Ralston notes, “Of such words are not reconciliations made.”

From Slate ● May 4, 2026

The county conducted an audit of Harm Reduction-SD in April 2023 that revealed “significant financial control weaknesses including insufficient bank reconciliations and a deficient general ledger,” prosecutors allege.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026

His voice - bruised, buttery and intimate - has been an inescapable undercurrent of Bollywood, narrating heartbreaks, longings and reconciliations for millions for more than a decade.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

Each cycle of filings requires extensive reconciliations and disclosures that absorb resources better devoted to productive investment.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

But Aureliano Segundo was in no mood for merciful reconciliations at that time.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Related Words

• accord
• agreement
• compromise
• harmony
• rapprochement
• settlement