Recommendations

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃənz/

Definitions

1. Advice offered to assist in making choices and decisions
2. Guidance or proposals offered to help someone decide what to do
3. Suggestions provided to influence or guide a person's choices

Etymology: "Recommendations" is simply the plural of "recommendation," so it takes its history from that noun. The noun came into Middle English as "recommendacioun," borrowed through Anglo-Norman "recomendacion" from Medieval Latin "recommendatio," a noun built from the Latin verb "recommendare," meaning to commend again or to entrust to someone's care. The Latin verb combines "re-," meaning again or back, with "commendare," to commit or entrust, which itself comes from "com-" plus "mandare," to hand over or order. The surprising thread is that the older sense was closer to entrusting or vouching for someone than to advising them. To recommend a servant or a candidate was to put your credibility behind them, and the word's later sense of offering advice grew out of that act of vouching. The modern plural "recommendations," used for proposals offered to help someone decide, follows naturally from this shift toward suggesting a course of action.

Synonyms: suggestions, advice, proposals, endorsements, guidance

Antonyms: discouragements, warnings, admonitions, cautions, prohibitions