recruit
Americannoun
-
recruits
plural
-
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)
-
recruits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recruited,
past participle, past
-
recruiting
present participle
-
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)
-
recruits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recruited,
past participle, past
-
recruiting
present participle
-
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.
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
recruitsimple
-
recruitssimple
-
have recruitedperfect
-
has recruitedperfect
-
am recruitingprogressive
-
are recruitingprogressive
-
is recruitingprogressive
-
have been recruitingperfect progressive
-
has been recruitingperfect progressive
Past
-
recruitedsimple
-
had recruitedperfect
-
was recruitingprogressive
-
were recruitingprogressive
-
had been recruitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recruit
First recorded in 1635–45; from French, stem of recruter, derivative of recrue “new growth,” noun use of feminine past participle of recroître ( re- re- + croître, from Latin crēscere “to grow”; cf. crescent)
Explanation
To recruit means to get someone to join something. You might recruit people for the navy or you might recruit members for your quilting group. The verb recruit often refers to formally joining an organization or a group, such as the military or a corporation. It can also be used more broadly to refer to getting someone to participate in a cause, formal or otherwise, like when you recruit your friend to help paint your room. As a noun, recruit means "a person who has been recruited." If you just joined the Army, you're a new recruit.
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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:
Mr. Kiffin has backed down, but other coaches have also sought to recruit players from professional leagues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“It may be that fraudulent issuers are more likely to recruit celebrities.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The Southern Trust has not been able to recruit consultant obstetricians to fill vacancies and it is preparing to temporarily move inpatient maternity services to Craigavon Area Hospital.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
We need to maintain our staffing, but, you know, we’re also having new recruit classes all the time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
It was time for Dasch to help lay the groundwork and recruit some other men.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
We did a big recruitment campaign, had over a thousand recruits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Are there likely to be any new recruits?
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
A group of transgender service members and prospective recruits challenged the policy under the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
Investing in heat-countering measures has become essential to maintain the existing workforce and attract new recruits, said Yutaka Kono from Konoe, the specialist wholesaler of screws and surveying equipment where Tabuchi works.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Their training was being streamlined and accelerated, a new camp was being enlarged to take more recruits.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
At Mizzou, he has also recruited specialists to the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026
Over recent windows, WSL clubs have recruited heavily from Germany and Sweden, while two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas exchanged the trophies of Barcelona for big-spending London City this summer.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
I’m a novice, so I recruited a caviar-loving colleague to join me for an impromptu tasting session of five brands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
“Since 2016, we’ve recruited 20,000 people that have applied for membership in the party,” Sims told me, though the party has long suffered from overstatement when it comes to self-reported membership numbers.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
She recruited working women, set up lecture tours for British suffragettes, and brought in a number of wealthy supporters to the cause.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
He was terrified of heights and was so small that a recruiting sergeant insisted he enlist as a communications specialist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
A delivery service offering meals to people in need has spoken about the challenges of recruiting new volunteers due to rising fuel costs.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
So coaches around the country dream of recruiting and training the kind of passer they can build an entire program around for years at a time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Plus, this year’s Rush Week revealed a queasy new strategy to thin the recruiting ranks.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
J. B. Stoner, a lawyer and head of the National States’ Rights Party, visited C.P. on recruiting trips through Durham.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
