reconciliation

noun

rec·​on·​cil·​i·​a·​tion ˌre-kən-ˌsi-lē-ˈā-shən 

1

: the action of reconciling : the state of being reconciled

2

: the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance

3

US government : a legislative process that enables expedited passage of a bill relating to certain matters in the federal budget by a simple majority of votes

used reconciliation to repeal the bill passed during the prior session of Congress

Aides to senior House Republicans said Thursday that committee chairmen were meeting now to decide whether a budget plan … will include parliamentary language, known as reconciliation instructions, that would allow much of a Republican health care plan to pass the filibuster-prone Senate with a simple majority.

—Jonathan Weisman

reconciliatory

ˌre-kən-ˈsil-yə-ˌtȯr-ē 

-ˈsi-lē-ə-

adjective

Examples of reconciliation in a Sentence

Signing the trade agreement was praised as an act of reconciliation between the two countries.

He contacted us in hopes of a reconciliation.

a reconciliation of opposing views

Recent Examples on the Web

Some Republicans want to fund the Pentagon boost through a party-line budget reconciliation process for the second consecutive year, but Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, prefers a bipartisan approach, and Hill leaders aren’t building it into their immigration funding bill. —semafor.com, 10 Apr. 2026

Another option is to pass war funding through the reconciliation process, which would allow Republicans to bypass Democratic opposition. —Claudia Grisales, NPR, 10 Apr. 2026

The authors suggest small acts of reconciliation and reunion could be the key to peace. —Evan Bush, NBC news, 9 Apr. 2026

Cope's pregnancy news came after Lawrence seemingly hard-launched his reconciliation with the actress via Instagram in December 2024, shortly after the pair briefly split. —Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 9 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English reconsiliacioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin reconciliation-, reconciliatio, from reconciliare

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for reconciliation

• acclimatisation
• acclimatization
• acidification
• actualization
• annualization
• autocorrelation
• autoregulation
• beatification
• beneficiation
• biodegradation
• biotransformation
• bureaucratization