recruitment

American  

[ri-kroot-muhnt] / rɪˈkrut mənt /

noun

• recruitments
  plural

1. the act or process of recruiting.

2. Physiology. an increase in the response to a stimulus owing to the activation of additional receptors, resulting from the continuous application of the stimulus with the same intensity.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• recruitments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of recruitment

First recorded in 1815–25; recruit + -ment

Explanation

Recruitment is the act of getting people to sign up for something, especially the military. If you've ever been recruited for something, then someone convinced you to do or join something. The person who convinced you was in the business of recruitment. Recruitment refers to everything people do to get others to join things, like the military. Colleges, sports teams, and businesses are all involved in recruitment when they are trying to attract new students, athletes, and employees. When recruitment is successful, people sign up and join.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recruitment recruitments

Engels is West Ham's fourth summer signing after the recruitment of Venezuela midfielder Keiber Lamadrid, Dutch defender Joel Veltman and Israel winger Manor Solomon.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

The move comes after nationwide protests triggered by the leak of a key medical entrance examination paper and a series of other recruitment scandals.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

For recruitment departments, finding the next player capable of following a similar route can be enormously valuable.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

When World War II broke out, Mr. Chabal writes, “Hobsbawm had the perfect profile for appointment to the code-breaking team at Bletchley Park or for recruitment by the Soviet secret services.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

It was their first destination after Zosma, and so Lazlo’s first experience as the Godslayer’s secretary had been the recruitment of Ebliz Tod, builder of the Cloudspire, tallest structure in the world.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

This year, the agency has offered extra pay to help entice retirement-eligible controllers to stay on, while raising wages for early-career employees and stepping up recruitments to the air-traffic-controller academy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025

“When I got there, I saw banners advertising recruitments for the army. By then, I had spent so much time and money that I decided to join anyway,” he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024

He built relationships by aiding players’ college recruitments — contacting coaches and driving players to colleges for camps and visits.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2022

Our aim is to decrease drastically the number of recruitments to this terrorist organization and to try and deprive it of funds so it will die.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 16, 2017

The sicknesses are ceasing; the recruitments are coming in: shortly all will be complete.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 15 by Thomas Carlyle

Related Words

• business
• contracting
• enrollment
• hiring
• job
• service
• trade