Definition

1. Noun:
   • The act of restoring friendly relations between people or groups after a disagreement or conflict: This is the most common meaning, referring to the process of making peace or becoming friendly again.
   • The action of making one view, belief, or account consistent with another: This meaning involves removing apparent differences or contradictions between two statements, ideas, or sets of data.

Examples of Usage

• Restoring friendly relations:
  • The couple sought reconciliation after their argument.
  • The treaty led to a reconciliation between the two warring nations.
• Making accounts or beliefs consistent:
  • The accountant performed a reconciliation of the company's financial records.
  • There is a need for reconciliation between scientific evidence and traditional beliefs.

Advanced Usage

• "to be beyond reconciliation": describes a situation where a relationship is so damaged that it cannot be repaired.
  • After the betrayal, their friendship was beyond reconciliation.
• "a gesture of reconciliation": an action intended to show a desire to end a conflict.
  • He offered a handshake as a gesture of reconciliation.

Variants and Related Words

• Reconcile (verb): To restore friendly relations or to make compatible.
  • It took years for them to reconcile their differences.
• Reconcilable (adjective): Capable of being made consistent or brought into harmony.
  • The two theories are not easily reconcilable.
• Reconciliatory (adjective): Intended to restore peace or friendship.
  • She made a reconciliatory speech to calm the tensions.

Synonyms

• Rapprochement: The establishment or renewal of harmonious relations.
• Conciliation: The action of stopping someone from being angry by being kind or forgiving.
• Settlement: An official agreement intended to resolve a dispute.

Related Phrases

• Reconciliation process: The series of steps taken to restore a relationship or resolve differences.
  • The community began a long and difficult reconciliation process after the civil war.
• Bank reconciliation: The process of ensuring that a company's or individual's financial records match the bank's statement.
  • Doing a monthly bank reconciliation helps prevent accounting errors.

Related Idioms

• "Bury the hatchet": To make peace; to end a quarrel or conflict. (This idiom is a conceptual synonym for the act of reconciliation.)
  • After years of feuding, the two families finally decided to bury the hatchet.

Noun

1. getting two things to correspond
   • the reconciliation of his checkbook and the bank statement
2. the reestablishing of cordial relations