recruitment

noun

re·​cruit·​ment ri-ˈkrüt-mənt 

1

: the action or process of recruiting

2

: the process of adding new individuals to a population or subpopulation (as of breeding or legally catchable individuals) by growth, reproduction, immigration, and stocking

also : a measure (as in numbers or biomass) of recruitment

Examples of recruitment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While recent reports are textbook exposés of the realities of modern warfare, the recruitment networks’ international facade makes protecting foreign fighters all the more difficult. —Rebecca Johns, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025

In addition to the men’s side, Matt Hargreaves, the club’s director of football negotiations, also significantly supports recruitment in the women’s team. —Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025

Army recruitment crisis spawns 'future soldier' course In 2022, as years of shortfall in recruiting numbers compounded into a crisis, the Army test-launched the Future Soldier prep course, a boot camp-style program to quickly pull up recruits who don't meet academic or physical standards. —Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025

Etiquette expert and recruitment coach, Leighton Newberry, shares how to keep things polite, protect your own game-day experience, and shut down the noise without causing a scene. —Mary Catherine McAnnally Scott, Southern Living, 6 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1793, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

recruitment

noun

re·​cruit·​ment ri-ˈkrüt-mənt 

1

: the increase in intensity of a reflex when the initiating stimulus is prolonged without alteration of intensity due to the activation of increasing numbers of motor neurons compare reinforcement

2

: an abnormally rapid increase in the sensation of loudness with increasing sound intensity that occurs in deafness of neural origin and especially in neural deafness of the aged in which soft sounds may be completely inaudible while louder sounds are distressingly loud