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

But for many descendants in Namibia, the process of negotiation between the governments of Germany and Namibia failed at reconciliation because it was signed without the approval of members of the Herero and Nama peoples, in some ways doing more harm in reinforcing their powerlessness. —Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Sep. 2023

That growth will require significant investment, some of which has been recently affirmed by the federal government and linked to Canada’s ongoing process of reconciliation with Indigenous people. —Karen Gardiner, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Sep. 2023

Amid all the missing parents and grieving parents and emotionally unavailable parents in DiCamillo’s fiction are glimpses of reconciliation and partial reunions and attempts at wholeness in spite of great losses. —Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023

There should have been some sort of reconciliation. —Laura Johnston, cleveland, 1 Sep. 2023

The reconciliation between national team coach Gregg Berhalter and star playmaker Gio Reyna will have to wait. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023

Phantom ships searching for a deeper truth, the reconciliation of contradictions, the admittance of human flaw. —Jeff Weiss, Spin, 21 Aug. 2023

Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., told the Globe recently that there was no need for any reconciliation between the Patriots and Brady after Brady’s sticky departure in 2020. —Katie McInerney, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2023

The moon's harmonious connection to love planet Venus is ideal for compromise and reconciliation. —USA TODAY, 2 Sep. 2023

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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