recruit

To recruit means to get someone to join something. You might recruit people for the navy or you might recruit members for your quilting group.

The verb recruit often refers to formally joining an organization or a group, such as the military or a corporation. It can also be used more broadly to refer to getting someone to participate in a cause, formal or otherwise, like when you recruit your friend to help paint your room. As a noun, recruit means "a person who has been recruited." If you just joined the Army, you're a new recruit.

Definitions of recruit
  1. verb
    cause to assemble or enlist in the military
    “recruit new soldiers”
    synonyms: levy, raise
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    type of:
    draft, enlist, muster in
    engage somebody to enter the army
  2. verb
    register formally as a participant or member
    “The party recruited many new members”
    synonyms: enrol, enroll, enter, inscribe
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    types:
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    draft, enlist, muster in
    engage somebody to enter the army
    unionise, unionize
    recruit for a union or organize into a union
    register
    enroll to vote
    matriculate
    enroll as a student
    levy, raise
    cause to assemble or enlist in the military
    type of:
    register
    record in writing; enter into a book of names or events or transactions
  3. verb
    seek to employ
    “The lab director recruited an able crew of assistants”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    engage, enlist
    hire for work or assistance
  4. noun
    a recently enlisted soldier
    synonyms: military recruit
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    types:
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    Black and Tan
    an English recruit (who wore a uniform that was black and tan) serving in the Irish constabulary to suppress the Sinn Fein rebellion of 1919 to 1921
    raw recruit
    an inexperienced and untrained recruit
    sprog
    a new military recruit
    yard bird, yardbird
    a military recruit who is assigned menial tasks
    type of:
    enlisted man
    a male enlisted person in the armed forces
  5. noun
    any new member or supporter (as in the armed forces)
    synonyms: enlistee
    see moresee less
    type of:
    entrant, fledgeling, fledgling, freshman, neophyte, newbie, newcomer, starter
    any new participant in some activity
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