reconciliation

[ rek-uhn-sil-ee-ey-shuhn ]
See synonyms for reconciliation on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of coming to an understanding and putting an end to hostility, as when former enemies agree to an amicable truce: Thirty years later, the rebel son is seeking reconciliation with his mother and sister.Reconciliation between the government and the Indigenous community will take more than pleasant words.

  2. the state of being resigned to something undesirable, or the process of achieving this state; acceptance: Telling them about her son as he was before the accident gave her a sense of peace and reconciliation with her loss.

  1. the act or process of making consistent or compatible: There is a tension between justice and mercy, and their reconciliation is not easy or obvious.

  2. the act or process of verifying one account or set of figures with another to ensure or test for accuracy: Reconciliation of the sum of money received and the number of tickets sold revealed a few reporting errors.

  3. U.S. Government. a Congressional procedure under which a simple majority of votes in the Senate is enough to pass legislation relating to the federal budget: used in order to avoid a potential filibuster.

Origin of reconciliation

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English reconsiliacion, from Latin reconciliātiōn-, stem of reconciliātiō “renewal, restoration,” from reconciliāt(us) “restored, reunited” (past participle of reconciliāre “to repair, restore, reunite”; see reconcile) + -iō -ion

Other words from reconciliation

  • non·rec·on·cil·i·a·tion, noun
  • pre·rec·on·cil·i·a·tion, noun
  • pro·rec·on·cil·i·a·tion, adjective

Words Nearby reconciliation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use reconciliation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Reconciliation

Reconciliation

/ (ˌrɛkənˌsɪlɪˈeɪʃən) /


noun
  1. RC Church a sacrament in which repentant sinners are absolved and gain reconciliation with God and the Church, on condition of confession of their sins to a priest and of performing a penance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012