recovery
noun
Simple meaning
Getting better after an illness, injury or bad time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rihkuhvreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹɪˈkʌvɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of regaining or saving something lost (or in danger of becoming lost)
The act or process of regaining or repossession of something lost.
A return to normal health.
A return to former status or position.
The act of regaining the natural position after curtseying.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A return to normal health.
Used this way, recovery is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use recovery
- “The recovery of the forest after the fire was surprisingly rapid.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Capable of being recovered or regained.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A hospital room for the care of patients immediately after surgery.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.