recommendation
Americannoun
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recommendations
plural
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an act of recommending.
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a letter or the like recommending a person or thing.
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representation in favor of a person or thing.
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anything that serves to recommend a person or thing, or induce acceptance or favor.
noun
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the act of recommending
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something that recommends, esp a letter presenting someone as suitable for a job, etc
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something that is recommended, such as a course of action
Usage
Spelling tips for recommendation The word recommendation is hard to spell because it is tricky to know whether the c, the m, and/or the d is doubled. How to spell recommendation: The easiest way to remember how to spell recommend is to break it into three parts: re - com - mend - ation. You can keep the first three sections in mind with the sentence: "I recommend that you rely commonly on mending." The suffix -ation is used to indicate nouns of action and appears in many other words, like starvation and regulation.
Synonym Usage
See advice.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of recommendation
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English recommendacion, from Medieval Latin recommendātiōn-, stem of recommendātiō, from recommendāt(us) (past participle of recommendāre; see recommend) + -iō -ion
Explanation
If you give someone a recommendation, you're saying, "try this, it's good" or "this is the best way to proceed," or "this person will do a great job." The noun recommendation stems from the Middle Latin word recommend, meaning "praise" or "present as worthy." Policy makers have made a strong recommendation to implement renewable energy initiatives to alleviate our dependence on fossil fuels. It used to be that you carried a letter of recommendation from a prominent person and used it as an introduction to polite society in an unfamiliar place, but nowadays, such a letter simply explains why someone is qualified for a particular job or school.
Vocabulary lists containing recommendation
CTE Cosmetology (Milady), Vocabulary from Part 1
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Conventions, Writing, and Speaking & Listening, Unit 1
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"Modern Automotive Technology," Vocabulary from Section 7
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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:
JPM retains its overweight recommendation on European banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The county applied for all four functions and won the recommendation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
The committee is expected to submit a recommendation on whether there is cause to remove Cook from her position at the Fed.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
As the Wall Street firm fears moving away from what has been a Goldilocks environment, it’s now recommending being 5% underweight on stocks in a portfolio, from a previous recommendation of being 4% overweight.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Through Barth's recommendation, Dasch soon found himself sitting in the office of a baby-faced man with thinning blond hair and a big belly.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
Kay heads a 21-member board that makes recommendations to the membership which then votes up or down on them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
In that scenario, the AI avatar would serve as the mayor, looking to interrogate the consultant’s recommendations, Zafar said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Papernot, who has signed an open letter with recommendations for policymakers, spoke to AFP about why AI makes these attacks harder to stop.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
It is likely Ofgem will regulate heating oil in England, Scotland and Wales, and the UK government said it would "engage with the Northern Ireland Executive as they consider these recommendations in parallel".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
When the newly created Federal Commission on Higher Education had called for desegregation in 1946, the South had simply ignored its recommendations.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
