# recruit

Pronunciation: say "ri-KROOT" US /ɹɪˈkɹut/, UK /ɹɪˈkɹuːt/

## Noun

1. A person newly enlisted for service in the army; a soldier who has just joined.
   - Simple: A person who has just joined the army or another armed force.
   - _Each new recruit completed six weeks of basic training before deployment._
   - _The sergeant addressed the recruits assembled on the parade ground._
3. A person hired to work for an employer.
   - Simple: A person who has just been hired to work for a company or boss.
   - _The latest recruit handled the busy front desk with surprising calm._
   - _Management paired each recruit with an experienced mentor for the first month._
5. A fresh supply that makes up for something used up or wasted, or a reinforcement.
   - Simple: A new supply that replaces something used up or wasted, or extra help sent in.
6. In ecology, an individual newly counted among a population's adults or breeding-age members.
   - Simple: A young animal that has grown old enough to breed and join the adult group.
   - _Ecologists tracked how many recruits entered the adult population each season._
   - _A single recruit can improve a small population's chance of recovery._

## Verb

2. To enroll or enlist new members, employees, or players on behalf of a company, organization, team, or the military.
   - Simple: To find and sign up new people to join a group, company, or team.
   - _The startup struggled to recruit engineers with the right skills._
   - _Universities recruit talented athletes from high schools across the country._
4. To supply an army or other body with new men by enlistment; to bring it up to strength, or to muster forces.
   - Simple: To fill up an army or group by signing up new people.
   - _The king sought to recruit his depleted forces before the spring campaign._
   - _Commanders moved through the villages to recruit fresh companies._
7. To mature into an adult or breeding-age member of a population.
   - Simple: To grow into an adult that can breed and join the group.
   - _Salmon recruit into the spawning population after several years at sea._
   - _Only a fraction of the larvae recruit successfully in any given generation._
8. To prompt a protein, white blood cell, or similar agent to act at a particular site in the body.
   - Simple: To call body cells or proteins to come and act in one part of the body.
   - _Damaged cells recruit immune agents to the site of injury._
   - _Certain signaling molecules recruit white blood cells to the inflamed region._

## Verb

9. To build up, renew, or refresh something with fresh supplies, or to make good a lack or shortage in it. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To make something strong or full again with fresh supplies, or to fix a lack of it.
   - _The sailors spent three days ashore, recruiting themselves with fresh fruit and clean water._
   - _Her doctor sent her to the coast for a month to recruit her health._
10. To recover after illness or strain, regaining one's health, flesh, spirits, or the like. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To get your health, weight, and strength back after being sick or worn out.
   - _He needed a month of rest in the hills to recruit after the long campaign._
   - _By autumn the thin ewes had recruited well and were fit to breed again._

## Origin

From the French verb "recruter."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/recruit (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).