recapture
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
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the recovery or retaking by capture.
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the taking by the government of a fixed part of all earnings in excess of a certain percentage of property value, as in the case of a railroad.
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International Law. the lawful reacquisition of a former possession.
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the state or fact of being recaptured.
verb
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to capture or take again
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to recover, renew, or repeat (a lost or former ability, sensation, etc)
she soon recaptured her high spirits
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(of the government) to take lawfully (a proportion of the profits of a public-service undertaking)
noun
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the act of recapturing or fact of being recaptured
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the seizure by the government of a proportion of the profits of a public-service undertaking
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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recapturesimple
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recapturessimple
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have recapturedperfect
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has recapturedperfect
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am recapturingprogressive
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are recapturingprogressive
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is recapturingprogressive
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have been recapturingperfect progressive
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has been recapturingperfect progressive
Past
-
recapturedsimple
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had recapturedperfect
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was recapturingprogressive
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were recapturingprogressive
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had been recapturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recapture
Explanation
To recapture something is to get it back or catch it again. If you were the zookeeper at a very disorganized zoo, one of your jobs might be to recapture runaway baby pandas. The police might recapture an escaped prisoner, and when they do it they can call the act itself a recapture. You can also recapture things in a more figurative way — your dad might like to recapture his high school days by listening to 80s music, for example. The "again" prefix re- is added to capture, from Latin captura, "a taking."
Vocabulary lists containing recapture
Road Home
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"Frederick Douglass" and "Renaissance Man"
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cept, capt, ceive (take, hold, seize)
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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.
See Examples For:
Klein, who issued two walks and gave up a single before the homer, said he’s been working to recapture the feeling of driving down the mound, as opposed to getting stuck over the rubber.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
When BTS returned earlier this year, there were questions about whether they could recapture the momentum that made them the world's biggest K-Pop band in the 2010s.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
To reach these conclusions, the team combined information from butterfly houses, mark, release and recapture studies, and controlled insectary experiments.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026
Debt repayments loomed, and Lacaze needed to recapture the trust of lenders, who felt misled about the state of the business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Her husband’s wit, his musical talent, those exquisite long fingers so evident in any photograph imparted a gleam to her days that she was never able to recapture after his death.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
But the film recaptures a feeling of genuine uncertainty and awe at the outset of what would prove to be an enduring historical experiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
However, when a stock quickly recaptures it, that is a good sign.
From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026
If he recaptures the rhythm and confidence he showed in Perth, he could be Australia's match-winner once again.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
“I hope he recaptures the Lob City days,” Rivers said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2022
“I love you,” he says again, and recaptures my face with his other hand.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
Arrested in Mexico in 2024, Zhang later made a dramatic escape before he was recaptured and extradited to the US in 2025.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Over the weekend, Israel announced that it had recaptured the outpost, built around 1137.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
Over time, these electrons lose energy and are gradually recaptured by the ions.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026
The rocket’s upper stage made it to orbit, achieving the flight’s main goal, though the booster wasn’t recaptured for reuse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
But then as the cities were cleared out and recaptured, folks got civilized once again.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
The band members chatted with The Times about recapturing the effortless essence of their immortal beach-ready sound and looking forward to a second chance to chase an endless summer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
The airline expects second-quarter fuel price per gallon to be $4.26 to $4.36, anticipating recapturing at least 40% of increased costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
However, on Thursday it was just about recapturing their rhythm and some confidence after a winless run of four games domestically that included defeats to Newcastle, Chelsea and bottom club Wolves.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
"RidgeAlloy offers the first technology capable of recapturing the value of a fast-approaching and historically massive wave of domestic, high-quality recycled automotive aluminum sheet alloys," Haynes said.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026
Both the Egalitarians and the Survivalists have run on platforms that involve recapturing the cities of the East and making them safe.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
