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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

"We know that this week will be one where we will feel both grief and sadness when looking back on that past, and also where hope is possible as we work towards reconciliation and healing."

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

There’s a tender, surprising moment of reconciliation in the novel’s final pages — the place where story stops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said a "reconciliation commission" would be set up while Danish PM Mette Frederiksen promised the governments would work together.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

While Microsoft discloses figures for finance leases, adding them to the cash paid for property and equipment doesn’t tie out to the $145.3 billion total, and the company provides no reconciliation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

They just had a flaming row about it and have entered the “oh, my sweet Putti” and “darling Kerli” stage of reconciliation.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

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 Republican Study Committee—which represents a huge cross-section of the caucus— in January released a Reconciliation 2.0 roadmap that included provisions focused on reducing housing, healthcare and energy costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

The group -- the Movement for Peace, Reconciliation and Development -- was launched in southern Chad in 2003.

From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026

The report was released on Wednesday by the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission following an investigation that began in 2022.

From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2025

So too the Reconciliation of the Florentines by the Cardinal Latino, Bk.

From Villani's Chronicle Being Selections from the First Nine Books of the Croniche Fiorentine of Giovanni Villani by Giovanni Villani

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

From Slate ● May 4, 2026

According to the 2026 National Defense Strategy and budget reconciliations, the U.S. inventory of AMRAAMs, artillery, and Javelins is moderate to healthy.

From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 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

Their romance might have been the plot of an MGM musical of the ’40s, with spats, breakups, reconciliations and plenty of songs.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2024

These days I script whole fights, in my head, and the reconciliations afterwards too.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

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