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.
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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:
The beginning of the Civil War found Revels living in Baltimore, where he helped recruit two Black regiments for the Union army.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2026
Skubal jelled with the group immediately, becoming especially close friends with fellow lefty Blake Snell, who promised that he’d worked to recruit Skubal back this offseason.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
Capital Economics expects an opposition-led government to be more likely to recruit ultra-Orthodox men to serve and reduce their incentives for staying out of the workforce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
His commanding officer, Lt Col Jim Hadfield OBE, described the recruit as "a star that burned bright" with "selfless compassion."
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The Patriots had tried in vain to recruit me.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
If a firm heavily recruits from a brand-name law school, that is something to keep in mind as you move through undergrad.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2026
The show began in 2023 with a group of three new recruits joining the fictitious Blackthorn Station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026
Military fatigues are worn like a badge of honor in Jerusalem’s historic center, where young recruits sling automatic weapons over their shoulders.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
By the end of Instacart’s fictional boot camp, the male recruits have learned to identify ripe bananas, read expiration dates and make sensible substitutions.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
But that is for recruits who as yet have not learned how to make the most of whatever comes their way.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
U.S. officials believe that China’s intelligence services recruited Alice Huang as an asset because of her access to the chip-designer chief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
The admission followed reporting in late October from the New York Times, alleging that Megaspeed’s Huang had been recruited to spy on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
The restaurant where her son said he was going to work did exist, but staff there told Karine they had never recruited anyone called Hugo.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
As the New York Times revealed last month, U.S. intelligence agencies believe Huang became romantically entangled with a woman recruited by China’s top spy agency.
From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2026
Woodall had recruited three of South Africa’s strongest climbers to form the nucleus of his team: Andy de Klerk, Andy Hackland, and Edmund February.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
BODi as a result has pared back its paid ad spending to save money for campaigns that would be more effective at recruiting new customers, according to Goldston.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
Google won the bankruptcy auction in August for Spirit’s digital archives, including decades of payroll, travel and recruiting files, along with about 100 million emails, 80,000 email accounts and millions of additional digital items.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
Everett chose UCLA, he said, because it was the only school where the recruiting pitch had nothing to do with track.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026
He said at the time that an agreement had been reached to stop recruiting Kenyan nationals.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
And Fred wanted Gold to start recruiting other spies with technical knowledge.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
