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military recruit

military recruit

1 3.8
A person who recently joined the military and is doing basic training
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪlɪˌtɛri rɪˈkruːt/
translation icon : recluta militar
  • The military recruit undergoes the initiation process once in basic training, but the entry into the military itself is only a preliminary to the "real" initiation: combat.

They came not so much as conquerors, as military recruits, or as allies, or as refugees.

Examples

  • Carriage rates are lowest in young children (2%) and highest in teenagers and military recruits (around 25%).

    Academic text (2014)
  • Paul Goble, an expert on Islam and the Muslim population in Russia, estimates that the majority of Russian military recruits will be Muslims in 2015.

    Blog text (2)
  • "The kind of people who experience these fractures are young: athletes, military recruits, people who don't have the chance to undergo X-rays or other clinical tools," Akkus said.

    Academic text (2007)
  • "The government needed two types of women workers: military recruits, and civilian recruits to work both in war industries and also to replace men who had left their peacetime jobs to go to war" (Gourley 104-05).

    Academic text (2015)
  • Many military recruits learn essential skills during their training to prepare for service.

  • The ceremony welcomed over a hundred new military recruits who had just signed up to join the army.

  • After completing basic training, military recruits are assigned to their respective units.

Synonyms

recruit
vsmilitary recruit
149 3.6

A person who has recently joined a group or the army

is used for someone currently undergoing formal initial training in the armed forces
enlistee
vsmilitary recruit
1 7.0

A person who recently joined the armed forces

refers to someone undergoing initial training after joining the armed forces
raw recruit
vsmilitary recruit
1 4.0

A person who has just joined the army and has little training

is about someone enrolled and now taking initial training

Antonyms

184 3.8

A person with long experience in a job or activity

How Experienced

private
76 3.7
military recruit
1 3.8
civilian
574 2.6

Surface Forms

Morphology

military + recruit

The meaning 'a person who has recently joined the armed forces' is directly derivable from 'military' (relating to the armed forces) combined with 'recruit' (a newly entered person). This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase that follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words should understand it.

Etymology

Military recruit comes from the idea of a person being called into the military; a recruit is someone newly gathered to train. Imagine new people standing in a line learning how to be soldiers. That's why the phrase means 'a person who has recently joined the armed forces and is undergoing initial training'.