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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This latest chopping and changing over whether they are coming won't have helped that cause of reconciliation.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
In contrast, Ulysses S. Grant illustrates a more-challenging leadership path, namely reconciliation without surrendering principle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Davis wrote: “The opposite of estrangement is not reconciliation, it’s peace.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Nawrocki said Kyiv's "decision to glorify the UPA is not only outrageous" but also "deeply disappointing", undermining "reconciliation" between the two nations.
From Barron's ● Jun. 20, 2026
He was a gentle child, a natural peacemaker and he tried to bring about some sort of reconciliation between me and his mother.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 conditioned the most important forms of direct welfare payments on employment or the search for employment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The ex-king sought to bridge gaps with his family and nation when his memoirs, titled "Reconciliation", were first published in French in France last month.
From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025
Timothy Ryback is the director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2025
Almost as soon as the Sixth Cavalry arrived in Austin, its officers gave a Reconciliation Ball, and to their regular afternoon promenade and concert, there was a hearty welcome for all who chose to come.
From All the Days of My Life: An Autobiography The Red Leaves of a Human Heart by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
As Ralston notes, “Of such words are not reconciliations made.”
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
The county conducted an audit of Harm Reduction-SD in April 2023 that revealed “significant financial control weaknesses including insufficient bank reconciliations and a deficient general ledger,” prosecutors allege.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 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
Each cycle of filings requires extensive reconciliations and disclosures that absorb resources better devoted to productive investment.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
But Aureliano Segundo was in no mood for merciful reconciliations at that time.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
