recreational

adjective

rec·​re·​a·​tion·​al ˌre-krē-ˈā-sh(ə-)nəl 

1

: of, relating to, or characteristic of recreation

a recreational area

recreational activities

2

: of or relating to recreational drugs or their use

a recreational drug user

Colorado's burgeoning marijuana industry had struggled under its own astonishing success since legal recreational sales began Jan. 1.

—David Migoya

recreationally adverb

Examples of recreational in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Navarro also had access to weekend visits that lasted hours, five hundred minutes of phone time a month, and a recreational area set up for basketball, racquetball, pickleball, softball, and bocce. —Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025

Standard gear simply doesn’t cut it at these depths — recreational divers breathing compressed air don’t venture below 130 feet. —Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025

Trump's order does not immediately reclassify marijuana and does not legalize recreational cannabis usage. —Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 19 Dec. 2025

Both medical and recreational cannabis use are legal in Maryland. —Jt Moodee Lockman, CBS News, 19 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

recreation + -al entry 1

First Known Use

1656, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing recreational

• recreational drug
• recreational vehicle

Rhymes for recreational

• aspirational
• avocational
• calculational
• combinational
• computational
• conformational
• confrontational
• congregational
• conversational
• correlational
• deformational
• derivational