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:
Pauling’s recommendation is also much higher than the recommended daily intake in Australia and other countries.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
Raising their recommendation on the stock to overweight from equal-weight, MS analysts tell clients that the Australia-listed company’s expansion from its core network-as-a-service capabilities means it is now a capital-intensive artificial-intelligence infrastructure and computing provider.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
She added: "This recommendation is the result of rigorous, evidence-based decision making, striking a balance between the benefits to patients and the best use of limited NHS funding."
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Tell him to review the original claim file to see whether the insurer’s adjuster explicitly approved a repair-only solution despite the contractor’s recommendation for a full roof replacement.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Hamilton resisted the recommendation, arguing quite plausibly that such a specific proposal was inappropriate for an address designed to operate at a higher altitude.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Tavares, who no longer works at the school, said his recommendations went nowhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
It’s unclear, but her absurd recommendations tickle Kelly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Kennedy in particular has been invested in defending the honor of red meat, repeatedly arguing, against standard medical recommendations, that diets high in animal fat are good for you.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Eleven of the recommendations, including the review of the problem cases, have been fully discharged, with work ongoing on the rest.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
We swap book recommendations as we walk out of the library, and it comes out that we’re both in the honors track for ninth grade, so hopefully we’ll have some classes together.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Definitions 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.
