recreation

See also: re-creation, récréation, and recréation

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English recreacion, from Middle French recreacion, from Old French recreacion, from Latin recreātiō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: rĕ-krē-āʹshən, IPA^(key): /ɹɛkɹiˈeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: rĕ-krē-āʹshən, IPA^(key): /ɹɛkɹiˈeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

recreation (countable and uncountable, plural recreations)

1. Any activity, such as play, that amuses, diverts or stimulates.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 4:

     The ordinary recreations which we have in winter, and in most solitary times busy our minds with, are cards, tables and dice, shovelboard, chess-play, the philosopher's game, small trunks, shuttlecock […]

   • 1972, Peter Chan, Water quality and recreational value analysis on Lake Dubay:

     Mercury contents did not affect recreation persay but definitely could if found in fish tissue at high levels.

Synonyms

• leisure

Derived terms

Derived terms

• R&R
• recreation center
• recreation centre
• recreation facility
• recreation ground
• recreation hall
• recreation room

Related terms

• recreate

Translations

activity that diverts, amuses or stimulates

• Arabic: اِسْتِجْمَام m (istijmām)
• Belarusian: адпачы́нак m (adpačýnak)
• Bulgarian: развлечение (bg) n (razvlečenie), забавление (bg) n (zabavlenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 娛樂 / 娱乐 (zh) (yúlè), 遊藝 / 游艺 (zh) (yóuyì)

• Czech: rekreace f
• Danish: rekreation
• Dutch: recreatie (nl) f, ontspanning (nl) f
• Finnish: virkistys (fi), vapaa-ajan toiminta
• Flemish: recreaasje
• French: récréation (fr) f
• Georgian: რეკრეაცია (reḳreacia), დასვენება (dasveneba), განტვირთვა (ganṭvirtva)
• German: Erholung (de) f, Unterhaltung (de) f
• Greek: ψυχαγωγία (el) f (psychagogía), αναψυχή (el) f (anapsychí)

  Ancient: ἄνεσις f (ánesis)

• Hebrew: נופש m, פנאי (he) m
• Hungarian: szabadidő (hu)
• Ido: distrakto (io)
• Indonesian: rekreasi (id)
• Italian: ricreazione (it) f
• Japanese: 娯楽 (ja) (ごらく, goraku)
• Korean: 오락(娛樂) (ko) (orak)
• Latin: āvocāmentum n
• Latvian: atpūta
• Malay: rekreasi
• Maori: mahi a te rēhia, mahi rēhia
• Norwegian: rekreasjon
• Persian: تفریح (fa) (tafrih)
• Polish: rekreacja (pl) f, wypoczynek (pl) m
• Portuguese: recreação (pt) f
• Romanian: recreație (ro) f, recreare (ro) f
• Russian: о́тдых (ru) (ótdyx), развлече́ние (ru) n (razvlečénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: cleasachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рекреација f

  Roman: rekreacija (sh) f

• Slovak: rekreácia f
• Slovene: razvedrilo n
• Spanish: recreación f
• Swedish: förströelse (sv), rekreation (sv) c
• Tagalog: rekreasyón, mulinsigla
• Turkish: dinlence (tr), rekreasyon (tr)
• Ukrainian: відпочи́нок m (vidpočýnok)
• Vietnamese: sự tiêu khiển (vi)

Etymology 2

From Middle English recreacion; equivalent to re- +‎ creation.

Alternative forms

• re-creation

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: rē-krē-āʹshən, IPA^(key): /ɹiːkɹiˈeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: rē-krē-āʹshən, IPA^(key): /ɹiːkɹiˈeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

recreation (plural recreations)

1. The process of creating something again.
2. The result of this process.
   • 2007, Baxter's Practical Works, Volume 1: A Sum of Practical Theology, and Cases ...‎^[1]:

     Such abundance must be laid out on superfluous recreations, buildings, ornaments, furniture, equipage, attendants, entertainments, visitations, braveries, and a world of need-nots […]

Usage notes

The hyphenated form re-creation avoids confusion with the more common other sense.

Related terms

• recreate

Translations

The process of recreating something

• Bulgarian: пресъздаване n (presǎzdavane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 再建 (zh) (zàijiàn), 重建 (zh) (chóngjiàn), 再造 (zh) (zàizào)

• French: recréation (fr) f
• Greek: αναδημιουργία (el) f (anadimiourgía)
• Japanese: 再創造 (saisōzō)
• Portuguese: recriação (pt) f