recommend

English

Etymology

From Middle English recommenden, from Old French recommender (compare French recommander), from Latin re- + commendāre (“to commend, commit; to recommend”), from con- +‎ mandāre (“commit, intrust, enjoin”), from manus (“hand, handwriting, power”) +‎ dare (“to give; to offer or render”).

Compare typologically Bulgarian препоръчам (preporǎčam), Serbo-Croatian препоручити, Slovene priporočiti, Czech doporučit, Slovak odporučiť (the same meaning); Russian поручи́ться (poručítʹsja), пору́ка (porúka), поручи́тельство (poručítelʹstvo) (close meaning), all related to Proto-Slavic *rǫka (Bulgarian ръка (rǎka), Russian рука́ (ruká)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛkəˈmɛnd/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd
• Hyphenation: rec‧om‧mend

Verb

recommend (third-person singular simple present recommends, present participle recommending, simple past and past participle recommended)

1. (transitive) To bestow commendation on; to represent favourably; to suggest, endorse or encourage as an appropriate choice.

   The board recommends Philips, given his ample experience in similar positions.

2. (transitive) To make acceptable; to attract favor to.

   A city that has much to recommend it.

3. (transitive) To advise, propose, counsel favorably

   The therapist recommends resting the mind and exercising the body.

   My therapist recommended that I rest the mind and exercise the body.

4. (transitive, archaic) To commit, confide to another's care, confidence or acceptance, with favoring representations

   A medieval oblate's parents recommended the boy for life to God and the monastery.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:advise

Antonyms

• deprecate
• disrecommend
• discourage
• disapprove
• oppose

Derived terms

• recommendable
• recommendatory
• recommended
• recommender

Related terms

• recommendation

Translations

to commend to the favorable notice of another

• Arabic: وَصَّى (waṣṣā), أَوْصَى (ʔawṣā), نَصَحَ (ar) (naṣaḥa)

  South Levantine Arabic: نصح (ar) (naṣaḥ)

• Armenian: հանձնարարել (hy) (hanjnararel)
• Azerbaijani: tövsiyə etmək, məsləhət görmək
• Basque: gomendatu
• Belarusian: рэкамендава́ць impf (rekamjendavácʹ), парэкамендава́ць pf (parekamjendavácʹ), ра́іць impf (ráicʹ), пара́іць pf (paráicʹ)
• Bulgarian: препоръ́чвам (bg) impf (preporǎ́čvam), препоръ́чам pf (preporǎ́čam), съве́твам (bg) impf (sǎvétvam)
• Burmese: ထောက်ခံ (my) (htaukhkam)
• Catalan: recomanar (ca)
• Central Franconian: aabeveële
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 推薦 / 推荐 (zh) (tuījiàn)

• Czech: doporučovat (cs) impf, doporučit (cs) pf
• Danish: anbefale (da)
• Dutch: aanraden (nl), aanbevelen (nl)
• Estonian: soovitama
• Finnish: suositella (fi), suosittaa (fi)
• French: recommander (fr)
• Georgian: რეკომენდაციას აძლევს (reḳomendacias aʒlevs), რეკომენდაციას უწევს (reḳomendacias uc̣evs), რეკომენდირება (reḳomendireba), რეკომენდება (reḳomendeba)
• German: empfehlen (de)
• Greek: προτείνω (el) (proteíno)

  Ancient: παραινέω (parainéō)

• Hebrew: המליץ (himlíts)
• Hindi: सिफ़ारिश करना (sifāriś karnā)
• Hungarian: ajánl (hu)
• Icelandic: mæla með
• Istriot: racumandà
• Italian: raccomandare (it), consigliare (it)
• Japanese: 推薦する (ja) (すいせんする, suisen suru), 勧める (ja) (すすめる, susumeru)
• Kazakh: ұсыну (ūsynu), ұсыныс жасау (ūsynys jasau)
• Khmer: អនុសាស (ʼaʼnusaah)
• Korean: 추천하다 (ko) (chucheonhada)
• Kyrgyz: сунуш кылуу (ky) (sunuş kıluu)
• Lao: ແນະນໍາ (næ nam)
• Latin: commendo
• Latvian: ieteikt
• Lithuanian: patarti
• Macedonian: препорачува impf (preporačuva), препорача pf (preporača)
• Maori: marohi
• Middle English: recomaunden, recommenden
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anbefale (no)

• Persian: توصیه کردن (fa) (towsiye kardan)
• Polish: polecać (pl) impf, polecić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: recomendar (pt)
• Romanian: recomanda (ro)
• Russian: рекомендова́ть (ru) impf (rekomendovátʹ), порекомендова́ть (ru) pf (porekomendovátʹ), сове́товать (ru) impf (sovétovatʹ), посове́товать (ru) pf (posovétovatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: mol
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: препоручи́вати impf, препору́чити pf

  Roman: preporučívati (sh) impf, preporúčiti (sh) pf

• Slovak: odporúčať impf, odporučiť pf
• Slovene: priporočati impf, priporočiti pf
• Spanish: recomendar (es)
• Swedish: rekommendera (sv), anbefalla (sv)
• Tajik: тавсия кардан (tavsiya kardan)
• Thai: แนะนำ (th) (nɛ́-nam)
• Turkish: tavsiye etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: рекомендува́ти impf (rekomenduváty), порекомендува́ти pf (porekomenduváty), ра́дити (uk) impf (rádyty), пора́дити pf (porádyty)
• Urdu: سفارش کرنا (sifāriś karnā), مشورہ دینا (maśvirā denā)
• Uzbek: tavsiya etmoq, maslahat bermoq
• Venetan: recomandar, racomandar
• Vietnamese: giới thiệu (vi) (介紹), đề nghị (vi) (提議)

to suggest or endorse someone as appropriate choice

• Arabic:

  South Levantine Arabic: نصح (ar) (naṣaḥ)

• Azerbaijani: tövsiyə etmək
• Bulgarian: препоръчвам (bg) (preporǎčvam)
• Central Franconian: aabeveële
• Dutch: aanbevelen (nl), voordragen (nl)
• Finnish: suositella (fi)
• Greek: υποδεικνύω (el) (ypodeiknýo)

  Ancient: παραινέω (parainéō)

• Maori: marohi, mārohirohi
• Middle English: recomaunden, commenden, recommenden
• Russian: рекомендова́ть (ru) impf (rekomendovátʹ), порекомендова́ть (ru) pf (porekomendovátʹ), сове́товать (ru) impf (sovétovatʹ), посове́товать (ru) pf (posovétovatʹ)
• Swedish: rekommendera (sv), förespråka (sv)
• Tamil: பரிந்துரை செய் (parinturai cey)
• Ukrainian: рекомендува́ти impf (rekomenduváty), порекомендува́ти pf (porekomenduváty)

to make acceptable; to attract favor to

• Finnish: houkutella (fi), olla houkuttava

to advise, propose

• Arabic: يوصي يقترح

  South Levantine Arabic: نصح (ar) (naṣaḥ)

• Bulgarian: съветвам (bg) (sǎvetvam)
• Central Franconian: aabeveële
• Dutch: aanraden (nl), aanbevelen (nl), adviseren (nl)
• Finnish: suositella (fi), suosittaa (fi)
• German: empfehlen (de)
• Italian: consigliare (it)
• Russian: рекомендова́ть (ru) impf (rekomendovátʹ), порекомендова́ть (ru) pf (porekomendovátʹ), сове́товать (ru) impf (sovétovatʹ), посове́товать (ru) pf (posovétovatʹ)
• Swedish: rekommendera (sv), föreslå (sv)

archaic: to confide to another

• Bulgarian: поверявам (bg) (poverjavam)
• Dutch: bevelen in ... (van ...), aanbevelen (nl), overdragen aan
• Finnish: luovuttaa (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} rekomendi (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} adviser (fr), ^{(please verify)} conseiller (fr), ^{(please verify)} recommander (fr)

Noun

recommend (plural recommends)

1. (colloquial) A recommendation.
   • 1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC:

     "I'm glad to have a recommend from that quarter. Airheart's skipper of the San Jose now. […] "

Anagrams

• commender

Middle English

Verb

recommend

1. Alternative form of recommenden