recruit

[ri-kroot]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR recruit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.

a new member of a group, organization, or the like.

a fresh supply of something.

verb (used with object)

to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.

to raise (a force) by enlistment.

to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.

to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.

to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).

to attempt to acquire the services of (a person) for an employer: She recruits executives for all the top companies.

to attempt to enroll or enlist (a member, affiliate, student, or the like): a campaign to recruit new club members.

to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.

verb (used without object)

to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.

to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.

to recover health, strength, etc.

to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.

Origin of recruit

1635–45; < French, stem of recruter, derivative of recrue new growth, noun use of feminine past participle of recroître (re- re- + croître < Latin crēscere to grow; cf. crescent)

Related formsre·cruit·a·ble, adjectivere·cruit·er, nounun·re·cruit·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·cruit·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for recruit

rookie, soldier, sailor, newcomer, trainee, volunteer, draftee, enroll, engage, raise, enlist, draft, mobilize, improve, select, convert, tenderfoot, helper, beginner, proselyte

Examples from the Web for recruit

Contemporary Examples of recruit

He also was working to recruit Castro as a driver for a drug load.
An Informant, a Missing American, and Juarez’s House of Death: Inside the 12-Year Cold Case of David Castro
Bill Conroy
January 6, 2015
The company declined to comment on their efforts to recruit more women, but the current drivers say they are working hard at it.
The Moms of Monster Jam Drive Trucks, Buck Macho Culture
Eliza Krigman
November 22, 2014
But then something funny happened: The GOP actually began to recruit black and Hispanic candidates.
The Republican Rainbow Coalition Is Real
Tim Mak
November 18, 2014
She is accused of using her celebrity to recruit socially disadvantaged minors with the potential to become professional models.
Colombian Beauty Queen Arrested for Running Child Prostitution Ring
Jason Batansky
October 17, 2014
In April of this year, the FBI tried to recruit a member of the Guantanamo defense team as an informant.
A Navy Lawyer Cries Foul on Gitmo’s Kafkaesque Legal System
Eleanor Clift
September 26, 2014

Historical Examples of recruit

The air is so pure, too, that people come there to recruit their health.
Fruitfulness
Emile Zola
Oh, didn't I kiss your uncle Pascal when he brought you here to recruit your health!'
Abbe Mouret's Transgression
Emile Zola
She did what seemed easiest—she took him down to recruit at Howards End.
Howards End
E. M. Forster
He had been sick and had come on board in order to recruit his health.
Hair Breadth Escapes
T. S. Arthur
These exercises correct the form of the body and transform the recruit into a soldier.
Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence
Various

British Dictionary definitions for recruit

recruit

verb

to enlist (men) for military service
to raise or strengthen (an army, navy, etc) by enlistment

(tr) to enrol or obtain (members, support, etc)

to furnish or be furnished with a fresh supply; renew

archaic to recover (health, strength, spirits, etc)

noun

a newly joined member of a military service

any new member or supporter

Derived Formsrecruitable, adjectiverecruiter, nounrecruitment, noun

Word Origin for recruit

C17: from French recrute literally: new growth, from recroître to grow again, from Latin recrēscere from re- + crēscere to grow

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for recruit

1630s, "to strengthen, reinforce," from French recruter (17c.), from recrute "a levy, a recruit" (see recruit (n.)). Sense of "to enlist new soldiers" is attested from 1650s; of student athletes, from 1913. Related: Recruited; recruiting.

"military reinforcement, one of a newly raised body of troops," 1640s, from recruit (v)., replacing earlier recrew, recrue; or from obsolete French recrute, alteration of recreue "a supply," recrue "a levy of troops" (late 16c.), Picardy or Hainault dialect variant of recrue "a levy, a recruit," literally "new growth," from Old French recreu (12c.), past participle of recreistre "grow or increase again," from re- "again" (see re-) + creistre "to grow," from Latin crescere "to grow" (see crescent). "The French word first appeared in literary use in gazettes published in Holland, and was disapproved of by French writers in the latter part of the 17th c." [OED]. The French word also is the source of Dutch recruut, German Recrut, Swedish rekryt.