recipient

American  

[ri-sip-ee-uhnt] / rɪˈsɪp i ənt /

noun

• recipients
  plural

1. a person or thing that receives; receiver.

   the recipient of a prize.

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adjective

1. receiving or capable of receiving.

recipient British  

/ rɪˈsɪpɪənt /

noun

1. a person who or thing that receives

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adjective

1. a less common word for receptive

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrecipient
  adjective
• unrecipient
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• recipients
  plural

Etymology

Origin of recipient

First recorded in 1550–60; from Latin recipient-, stem of recipiēns “receiving,” present participle of recipere “to receive”; see receive

Explanation

A recipient is the person on the receiving end of something. Meryl Streep is the recipient of more Academy Award nominations than any other actor. Just as an actor can be the recipient of a prize for acting, a banker can be the recipient of a bonus for good banking. You'll notice the connection between recipient and receive. In order to be a recipient you have to receive something, whether it's a prize or just a letter in the mail. If it's true that it's better to give than to receive, does that mean it's better to be a giver than a recipient?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recipient recipients

For young workers, the median salary of a bachelor’s-degree recipient working full-time is $66,600, according to the Education Department, which is “pretty high,” Matsudaira said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

To qualify, a recipient institution must be established since Jan. 1, 2025 and have at least 200,000 square feet of research space it controls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

The average number of hours each month billed by in-home care providers for each recipient has increased by 13.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

As the recipient of a donor heart, Jackson has to manage his exercise workload more carefully than his team-mates, many of whom have had kidney transplants, the most common transplant in the UK.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

In short, it was exactly the kind of letter that a recipient, whether he wants to or not, carries around for some time in his hip pocket.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

In some cases, graduates of those programs are measured against bachelor’s-degree recipients in the same field and in the same state, in other cases they’re measured against bachelor’s-degree recipients overall.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

Most Medicare Part B recipients will qualify, although people whose premiums are paid by Medicaid and higher-income recipients who pay an income-related adjustment will not, according to the White House.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

Those recipients also showed improvements in some metabolic disturbances, adding evidence that changes in the microbiota may help drive the effects of the mulberry preparation.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

Recent doctoral recipients enter a saturated academic labor market and struggle to find work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

More gnomes were emerging from their holes in the ground, eager to gather messages and deliver them to the rightful recipients.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Related Words

• beneficiary