recruitment

noun

re·​cruit·​ment ri-ˈkrüt-mənt 

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

Examples of recruitment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Airport police unions and transportation officials say the shutdown has worsened already-difficult recruitment and retention efforts, leading to longer shifts, mandatory overtime and increasingly volatile encounters in unsecured areas such as rail platforms, parking garages and terminal entrances. —Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025

Motorcycle taxis are a vibrant part of the community, ferrying goods and people around town, but are also targets of ISIS recruitment – their skills equally useful to the insurgency. —Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 21 Nov. 2025

Over the past few months, the company has hired Maryanne Caughey, former chief people officer at Notion and Gusto, to head up people; Dropbox’s former head of growth and data, Elena Verna, to lead growth; and Meta alum Charles Guillemet to lead recruitment. —Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2025

The Milwaukee Police Department's former community relations engagement and recruitment director has pleaded guilty to election fraud. —Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 20 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1793, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

recruitment

noun

re·​cruit·​ment ri-ˈkrüt-mənt 

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