reuse
Americanverb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Explanation
To reuse something is to make use of it more than once, or for a subsequent time. Asking for a plastic bag at the grocery store might seem wasteful, but you can reuse that bag many times. Instead of throwing something away after using it once, ask yourself if there's any way you can reuse it. You can reuse a paper towel roll by putting it in your hamster's cage so he can crawl through and chew on it. You can reuse containers like glass jars and plastic tubs by storing leftovers in them. You can even reuse kitchen scraps by composting them and using the compost in your garden.
Vocabulary lists containing reuse
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.
See Examples For:
EU Court of Justice advocate general Maciej Szpunar said Tuesday that a publisher’s rights could be infringed when chatbots retrieve and reuse material from online publications to generate answers to user queries under certain circumstances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
An EU court adviser said AI chatbots could breach copyright laws when they reuse news articles to generate answers under certain circumstances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Dawn Dale, the trust's community development manager, said the Echo project was named to reflect its aim of giving items a second life through reuse.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
The lawsuit claims that such unauthorized reuse “is destroying the value of these works in a matter of a few years with only profit as its motive.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
She’s probably doing it because her mom wants to be able to reuse it.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
RadixArk’s inference engine reuses KV cache by organizing conversation snippets into a filing system called a Radix tree.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
She also reuses the old cards to new ones and has let go of old cassettes and CDs.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
The human brain repeatedly reuses the same cognitive "blocks" across many different situations, combining and recombining them to form new patterns of behavior.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 28, 2025
The Falcon 9 holds the record for the highest number of launches and reuses in U.S. history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
Like well-run factories, cells are thrifty; part of the cellular machinery chops up and reuses anything that is floating around inside, including bits of the cell and foreign invaders such as viruses.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The adviser said cases should focus on whether a chatbot accessed articles unlawfully or reused a publication’s specific form of expression.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
The results were “very close to the originals: same structure, same hooks reused with light rewording, and full sets of verses/choruses/bridges.”
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
It also calls for new measures to clean up drill sites so the land can be safely reused for housing, parks and other community benefits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Known as autophagy, this process collects defective proteins and other cellular waste, packages them into specialized compartments, and breaks them down into basic molecular components that can be reused.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
But Hephaestus had also said, Everything can be reused.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
The legislation also requires ultra-fast fashion companies to display messages on their websites promoting more moderate consumption, including reusing and repairing clothing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
The findings suggest that early animals created the first blood cells by reusing genetic material inherited from ancient single-celled ancestors.
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
But Iran has largely abandoned the idea of firing missiles from underground launch locations, according to Eveleth, owing to the technical difficulties of reusing silos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
I’m 29 and have been to a lot of weddings the last couple of years, so I was planning on just reusing a floor-length green dress I already have.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 8, 2025
The looting dates back millennia, with the Inka having ravaged the centers of their predecessors, sometimes reusing art and stonework.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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