recruitment

noun re·cruit·ment \ ri-ˈkrüt-mənt \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Definition of recruitment

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

Recent Examples of recruitment from the Web

Last fall the Pentagon abruptly canceled the contracts of hundreds of immigrants still in the recruitment process, and a few months later the program was suspended.

— margaret hartmann, Daily Intelligencer, "U.S. Army Is Discharging Immigrants Who Were Promised Citizenship," 6 July 2018
The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks hate groups, reported a 258% growth in white supremacist recruitment efforts at universities between fall 2016 (41 incidents) and fall 2017 (147 incidents).

— refinery29.com, "Texas Tech Frat Members Call For Hunting Immigrants In Racist Group Chat," 22 June 2018
But companies’ recruitment efforts are expanding in all fields.

— bill zimmerman, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Orlando jobs come with rising wages, better benefits — in certain lines of work," 25 May 2018
Kevin Mallory The Justice Department is stepping up its efforts to go after what appear to be increasingly aggressive recruitment efforts by China’s intelligence operatives.

— aruna viswanatha, WSJ, "Patriot or Double Agent? CIA Officer on Trial as U.S. Targets Spying by China," 21 May 2018
Hawley's hurdles Hawley entered the race after a prolonged recruitment effort by Vice President Mike Pence and other prominent Republicans, but the effort to anoint him as the presumptive nominee has irked some grassroots activists.

— bryan lowry, kansascity, "Cory Booker campaigns for McCaskill as she, Hawley work to shore up their bases | The Kansas City Star," 19 May 2018
Last December the Ohio Attorney General's Office provided money to Cuyahoga, Summit and Stark counties to fund a full-time staff member dedicated to foster family recruitment efforts because of the crisis.

— karen farkas, cleveland.com, "Cuyahoga County seeking foster parents as the number of children in custody increase," 3 May 2018
Not only is the unemployment rate at a record low, but businesses say sky-high rents and home prices are hobbling their recruitment efforts.

— andrew khouri, latimes.com, "California loses jobs in March, though unemployment stays at a record low," 20 Apr. 2018
He and his Xavier staff recruited Hurt two years ago before Hurt's recruitment took off.

— jeff greer, The Courier-Journal, "He has local ties, but U of L faces tough competition for Matthew Hurt," 14 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'recruitment.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of recruitment

1793

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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Medical Dictionary

recruitment

noun re·cruit·ment \ ri-ˈkrüt-mənt \

medical Definition of recruitment

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