reconstruct
Americanverb (used with object)
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to construct again; rebuild; make over.
The church was burned in 1895, but reconstructed in 1897.
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to re-create in the mind from given or available information.
The first step in solving this crime was to reconstruct the events of the murder.
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to cause to abandon earlier positions, beliefs, etc.; cause to adjust to new or current situations.
He's a reconstructed man with progressive views on gender equality.
The protesters and resisters refuse to be reconstructed.
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Historical Linguistics. to arrive at (hypothetical earlier forms of words, phonemic systems, etc.) by comparison of data from a later language or group of related languages.
verb
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to construct or form again; rebuild
to reconstruct a Greek vase from fragments
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to form a picture of (a crime, past event, etc) by piecing together evidence or acting out a version of what might have taken place
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reconstructernoun
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reconstructionnoun
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reconstructornoun
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reconstructibleadjective
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reconstructiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reconstructsimple
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reconstructssimple
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have reconstructedperfect
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has reconstructedperfect
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am reconstructingprogressive
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are reconstructingprogressive
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is reconstructingprogressive
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have been reconstructingperfect progressive
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has been reconstructingperfect progressive
Past
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reconstructedsimple
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had reconstructedperfect
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was reconstructingprogressive
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were reconstructingprogressive
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had been reconstructingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reconstruct
Explanation
If the verb to "construct" means to build something, then to reconstruct means to build it again. You can reconstruct a building, a city, or even an idea. If a house is destroyed in a fire, earthquake, or flood, you might try to reconstruct it — or you could build a totally new one. Either way, though, you could still be said to be reconstructing your home. Some buildings were destroyed so long ago that we don't know what they really looked like. The same can be said for whole cities and cultures. Still, archeologists try to reconstruct how those cities and cultures appeared at the time that they were flourishing. Linguists reconstruct long-dead languages. Detectives try to reconstruct crimes in order to figure out who committed them.
Vocabulary lists containing reconstruct
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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.
In his book "White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy" Reverend William J. Barber argues that the culture wars mask the rampant poverty in the world’s richest nation.
From Salon • Aug. 30, 2024
"Reconstruct the machinery of this Government," quickly replied Lincoln.
From Lincoln's Yarns and Stories: a complete collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln famous as America's greatest story teller by McClure, Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly)
Reconstruct the story out of which the plot may have been built.
From Contemporary One-Act Plays by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
Reconstruct the code, the work of the emperor, the pure substance of Roman law and custom?
From System of Economical Contradictions; or, the Philosophy of Misery by Proudhon, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)
Reconstruct the events of that night as you think they might have occurred.
From The Green God by Kummer, Frederic Arnold
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.
