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• reconstruction
  reconstruction

  noun

  the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed.
• Reconstruction
  Reconstruction

  noun

  history the period after the Civil War when the South was reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865–77)

reconstruction

American  

[ree-kuhn-struhk-shuhn] / ˌri kənˈstrʌk ʃən /

noun

• reconstructions
  plural

1. the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed.

   the gigantic task of reconstruction after a fire.

2. something reconstructed, rebuilt, or reassembled.

   a reconstruction of the sequence of events leading to his death; accurate reconstructions of ancient Greek buildings.

3. (initial capital letter)

   1. the process by which the states that had seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War.

   2. the period during which this took place, 1865–77.

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Reconstruction British  

/ ˌriːkənˈstrʌkʃən /

noun

1. history the period after the Civil War when the South was reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865–77)

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Reconstruction Cultural  

1. The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. During Reconstruction, the South was divided into military districts for the supervision of elections to set up new state governments. These governments often included carpetbaggers, as former officials of the Confederacy were not allowed to serve in them. The new state governments approved three amendments to the Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment, which had a provision keeping some former supporters of the Confederacy out of public office until Congress allowed them to serve; and the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights for black men. Once a state approved the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, it was to be readmitted to the United States and again represented in Congress. The official end of Reconstruction came in 1877, when the last troops were withdrawn from the South.

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Discover More

The program established for Reconstruction, largely the work of Republicans in the North, was far more severe than what President Abraham Lincoln had proposed before his assassination. Large numbers of white southerners resented being kept out of the “healing” of the nation that Lincoln had called for and were unwilling to give up their former authority. Ill feeling by former Confederates during Reconstruction led to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and a long-standing hatred among southerners for the Republican party.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pre-Reconstruction
  noun
• self-reconstruction
  noun
• reconstructional
  adjective
• reconstructionary
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reconstructions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reconstruction

First recorded in 1785–95; re- + construction

Explanation

When you put something back together or rebuild it, you do a reconstruction, like the reconstruction of a neighborhood after a flood or earthquake. Combine the prefix re-, or "again" with construction and you get a word that means "the process of putting something back together." Crime or accident reconstruction help experts figure out what really happened and possibly who is guilty or at fault, but reconstruction can also be the rebuilding of place that has been damaged, or the time of the rebuilding, like the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reconstruction Reconstruction reconstructions

Officials noted that, on balance, the reconstruction is reducing student capacity at these schools, which also allows for more open space and recreation areas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

He picked Chicago because he believed in Getz’s reconstruction project.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

The PC also lost a large percentage of the skin from his back after landing on the road and is on a waiting list for ankle ligament reconstruction.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

The resulting landslide and tsunami caused eight deaths, according to a reconstruction published in Natural Hazards.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

Rashid unzipped the backpack and pulled out three of the five small pieces of broken, charred tile he’d taken from the wreckage before they began reconstruction.

From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau

As the nation abandoned Reconstruction, a generation of politicians and historians recast Johnson as a martyr to congressional tyranny.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

The Tenure of Office Act gave the same protection to the civilian officials in charge of Reconstruction.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

"Reconstruction might take the priority over reform," he said, pointing to devastated hydropower projects, destroyed communities and the urgent need to restore livelihoods.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

It was in this context that Gershom Scholem, who had worked beside her at Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, accused her of lacking ahavat Yisrael—love for the Jewish people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

After a brief period of progress during Reconstruction, African Americans found themselves, once again, virtually defenseless.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

In June, the board approved three other seismic-risk reconstructions totaling $496.9 million: Normandie Avenue Elementary and 107th Street Elementary — both in South L.A. — and Narbonne High School in the Harbor area.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

Geological reconstructions indicate that the sediments containing the fossils formed in near-shore, shallow-water delta coastal environments.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

Early attempts to present real events on celluloid sometimes combined on-the-scene footage with staged reconstructions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Using digital reconstructions of the space that once held the bird's brain, scientists were able to examine clues about the dodo's sensory abilities.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026

"There are big engravings of imaginary reconstructions of the Forum, in the booksellers' windows."

From Cecilia A Story of Modern Rome by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

Related Words

• rehabilitation
• reorganization
• repair
• restoration