reconcile

6 definitions • 10 examples

to find a way in which two situations or beliefs that are opposed to each other can agree and exist together:

It is sometimes difficult to reconcile science and religion.

It's difficult to reconcile such different points of view.

How can you reconcile your fur coat and/with your love of animals?

When two people are reconciled, they become friendly again after they have argued:

be reconciled with They were finally reconciled with each other, after not speaking for nearly five years.

to adjust the way you think about a fact or situation that is opposed to another fact or situation so that you can accept both:

How do we reconcile the seemingly contradictory notions of cutting taxes and balancing the budget?

If two people are reconciled, they become friendly again after having argued so seriously that they kept apart:

After two years of not speaking to one another, the two brothers were finally reconciled.

To reconcile yourself to a situation is to accept it even if it is unpleasant or painful, because it cannot be changed:

He has reconciled himself to the loss of the election and is moving on.

to compare different financial accounts, amounts, etc. in order to check that they add up to the same total or to explain any differences between them:

They've got all the paperwork and they're now trying to reconcile the various figures.

reconcile sth with sth We need to reconcile all transactions with the bank statements and cancelled cheques.

I just couldn't get the numbers to reconcile.