afresh
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of afresh
Explanation
When you do something afresh, you start it again as if it's the first time. You might, for example, start afresh baking a new apple pie after burning the first one. When you see the adverb afresh, it's often following "start" or "begin." Doing something afresh is getting a fresh start, or a complete do-over. Your grandfather might start afresh with his new job as a goat farmer after a lifetime working as an accountant. Or you might start afresh with a classmate you used to argue with, determined to find a way to get along. In both examples, someone is approaching things in a brand new way.
Vocabulary lists containing afresh
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.
And that is staying in the top flight so Spurs - and whoever the full-time successor to sacked Thomas Frank will be - can start afresh in the summer as a top-flight club.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
But any future attempt to resurrect the issue would have to start afresh with a new bill in a new parliamentary session.
From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026
The emirate, now home to some 240,000 Britons, represented a place to start afresh, far from the rising costs, political upheavals and overbearing class system back home.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
I think you are right to look at moving to a new home and starting afresh.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 14, 2026
Then suddenly this also was clear to him: he, who was in fact like one who had awakened or was newly born, must begin his life completely afresh.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
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.
