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:
A recommendation to increase the minimum wage has been accepted by the social security minister.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Earlier this year, Kennedy announced that a group of advisers would assess 14 peptides and then make a recommendation to the FDA about whether they should be allowed to be compounded.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
The appeal was heard this month with a non-binding recommendation due within 90 days.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
The bank raises its recommendation on Genmab’s stock to overweight from neutral, while lifting its target price to 3,500 Danish kroner from 2,050 kroner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Kennedy wanted a unanimous recommendation, but the team was divided between advising a blockade or an air strike.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
So, a little disclosure before we get into it: Nobody is paying me to recommend these products, and neither Salon nor I will earn money from these recommendations.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Together, they established more than 60 recommendations covering how phages should be selected, tested, manufactured, administered, and monitored.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
She said that considering the "wholesale implementation" of the recommendations "provoked fundamental questions about the editorial proposition of a show that, I believe, has now run its course over 10 years".
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Among the author’s valuable if broad recommendations, he urges legislation that would establish mandatory follow-up care after the treatment of serious mental illness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
As the war approached its peak, every single American military airplane in production was based fundamentally—and in many cases in specific detail—upon the research results and recommendations of the NACA.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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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.
