recommendation

[rek-uh-men-dey-shuhn, -muhn-]

noun

1. an act of recommending.

2. a letter or the like recommending a person or thing.

3. representation in favor of a person or thing.

4. anything that serves to recommend a person or thing, or induce acceptance or favor.

recommendation

/ ˌrɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of recommending

2. something that recommends, esp a letter presenting someone as suitable for a job, etc

3. something that is recommended, such as a course of action

Other Word Forms

• prerecommendation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of recommendation¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English recommendacion, from Medieval Latin recommendātiōn-, stem of recommendātiō, from recommendāt(us) (past participle of recommendāre; recommend ) + -iō -ion

Synonym Study

See advice.

Example Sentences

In 1914, it created formalized officer appraisals to determine who should be transferred, discharged or elevated—based on leadership, discipline, character and professional knowledge, among other things, instead of length of service or personal recommendations.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

My mom asked her friends for recommendations, and I directed her to the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys to find a reputable estate attorney who specialized in dealing with seniors.

Read more on MarketWatch

The "ambitious" recommendations the report makes are "designed to bring about the most significant change in safeguarding in schools in Wales in a generation," Ms Pickles said.

Read more on BBC

The government adopted all but one of the recommendations of a report published following an inquiry into the scandal.

Read more on BBC

The bank cuts its stock recommendation to sell from neutral and raises its target price to 80 pence from 72 pence.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• charge 
• endorsement 
• guidance 
• instruction 
• judgment 
• order 
• proposal 
• proposition 
• sanction 
• suggestion 
• support 

When To Use

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.