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reconciliation

rek-un-sil-ee-AY-shun /ˌrɛkənsɪliˈeɪʃən/

nounC1GREIELTS

PoliticalFormal

The restoration of friendly relations or the process of making one view or belief compatible with another.

Often implies a deep, emotional, or spiritual process of forgiveness and moving forward after a conflict.

The story behind the word. The Latin 'concilium' means a council or assembly. To reconcile is literally to 'bring back into the council' or to bring someone back into the fold of the community.

Word relationships

rapprochement: Rapprochement is specifically used for the re-establishment of harmonious relations between nations.

estrangement: Estrangement is the state of being alienated or separated from someone previously close.

Commonly confused with

conciliation: Conciliation is the act of stopping someone from being angry; reconciliation is the mutual return to friendship.

Word family

reconcile (verb): To restore friendly relations.
reconcilable (adjective): Capable of being made compatible.

Collocations

national reconciliation
reconciliation process
seek reconciliation

Example sentences

"In the end, reconciliation is a spiritual process, which requires more than just a legal framework." Political History
"The accountant performed a reconciliation of the bank statements to ensure every penny was accounted for." Financial

Memory hook

RE-CON-SILLY-ATION: It's silly to stay angry, so let's 'con' (with) each other again. Bring back together.

When not to use

Avoid using for simple business agreements where no prior conflict existed; 'agreement' or 'alignment' is better.

Fun facts

In accounting, reconciliation means making two sets of records match—just as in social reconciliation, two different stories are brought into agreement.