recreational

adjective

rec·​re·​a·​tion·​al ˌre-krē-ˈā-shnəl 

-shə-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

Today, more than 5% of the company’s revenue is derived from cannabis companies in the UK, which legalized medical marijuana in 2018, and Germany, which legalized medical use in 2017 and opened a limited recreational market in 2024. —Will Yakowicz, Forbes.com, 25 May 2025

Fantasy football is a game played by more than 50 million football fans around the world, mostly in small recreational leagues with their friends. —David Hill, Rolling Stone, 24 May 2025

Legalization of recreational marijuana has broad support in the state, according to a January 2025 poll from the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs. —Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2024, microbial water quality readings in the Chicago and Calumet rivers showed that conditions remained good or low-caution for recreational users on 78 of 101 summer days, according to a report released today by local water innovation hub Current. —Chicago Tribune, 23 May 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