# recruit

/ɹəˈkɹut/ (US) · /ɹɪkɹˈuːt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/recruit
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. to hire or enlist

verb · CEFR B2

to find and persuade people to join a company, an organization, or the army.

For teachers: to enlist new members or potential employees for an organization, military force, or sports team.

- The tech company is trying to recruit more software engineers from local universities.
- The agency was tasked to recruit high-level executives who possessed both technical expertise and significant leadership experience in the renewable energy sector.

Usage: Often used with the preposition 'to' or 'into'.

### 2. biological growth

verb · CEFR C1 · Technical

when young animals or plants become part of a main group or population.

For teachers: to add new individuals to a population through birth, settlement, or maturation to a specific life stage.

- The coral reef began to recruit new larvae after the water temperature returned to normal.
- Ecologists observed that the forest failed to recruit new oak saplings due to the overpopulation of deer in the protected area.

Usage: Used both transitively and intransitively in ecological contexts.

### 3. a new member

noun · CEFR B2

a person who has recently joined an organization or the army.

For teachers: a newly enlisted member of an organization, especially a soldier who has recently joined the armed forces.

- The new recruits spent their first week learning the rules of the training camp.
- The sergeant spent the afternoon drilling the raw recruits, ensuring they could execute basic maneuvers with precision before the field exercises began.

## Examples

- The new recruit starts his training on Monday morning.
- The company is looking for a fresh recruit to join the marketing team as a junior assistant.
- While the seasoned officers maintained a stoic silence, the nervous recruit struggled to keep his equipment organized during the first week of intensive field exercises.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.