reappropriate
Americanverb (used with object)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ben Berman, a New York City vegan who began a serious weightlifting regimen last year, said he's trying to reappropriate the epithet "soy boy," historically used to emasculate vegan and vegetarian men.
From Salon • Jul. 15, 2024
Groups that see themselves as victimized often tend to reappropriate accusatory language, and social media makes for a useful place to experiment with identities and test out the public’s reaction.
From Slate • Aug. 5, 2022
According to the show’s curator, Kristen Hileman, this technique places Waters within the “Picture Generation,” a group of contemporary artists such as Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman who reappropriate commercial images to criticize bourgeois values.
From Washington Post • Nov. 21, 2018
Canadian comedians, she wrote in a research paper, were adopting “camp,” a form of humor often used by gay performers to ironically reappropriate homophobic slurs and stereotypes as points of pride.
From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2017
Now you seek to reappropriate this water, or to have the right cancelled, and see where you wind up.
From The Iron Furrow by Botkin, Henry A.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
