recharge
Americanverb (used with object)
-
recharges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recharged,
past participle, past
-
recharging
present participle
-
to charge again with electricity.
-
Informal. to refresh or restore; revitalize.
verb (used without object)
-
recharges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recharged,
past participle, past
-
recharging
present participle
-
to make a new charge, especially to attack again.
-
Informal. to revive or restore energy, stamina, enthusiasm, etc.
noun
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recharges
plural
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an act or instance of recharging.
-
Geology. the processes by which groundwater is absorbed into the zone of saturation.
verb
-
to cause (an accumulator, capacitor, etc) to take up and store electricity again
-
to revive or renew (one's energies) (esp in recharge one's batteries )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rechargesimple
-
rechargessimple
-
have rechargedperfect
-
has rechargedperfect
-
am rechargingprogressive
-
are rechargingprogressive
-
is rechargingprogressive
-
have been rechargingperfect progressive
-
has been rechargingperfect progressive
Past
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rechargedsimple
-
had rechargedperfect
-
was rechargingprogressive
-
were rechargingprogressive
-
had been rechargingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recharge
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “to reload (a vessel)”; see re-, charge
Explanation
When you recharge something, you bring it back to life or reenergize it. You might charge your cell phone in the morning and then recharge it later in the day. If you can charge your electronics (or provide them with electrical energy), you can also recharge them when that energy is depleted. In addition to your camera battery and laptop, sometimes you need to recharge yourself, or take a break so you can become energized again. Less commonly, recharge is used to mean "refill a glass," and the original meaning, in the fifteenth century, was "to reload a vessel."
Vocabulary lists containing recharge
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Earth Science - Introductory
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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:
Rain watered crops, and soaked in to recharge the groundwater that hydrated the city — something that can’t happen now, when something like 40% of the city is covered over, impermeable to rain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Never mind if they are more expensive than gas-powered tools, or if a landscape worker has to repeatedly break during the day to recharge equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
These cables, sometimes included with your car from the manufacturer, allow you to draw a charge from another battery or vehicle and recharge your battery enough to turn the starter.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
School holidays should be a time for children to have fun and build friendships, while families have the opportunity to work or recharge.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
I plugged in my phone for a recharge, and two texts from Angela popped up.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
That includes “extended range electric vehicles,” battery-powered cars that have an onboard generator, running on gas, that recharges batteries on the fly.
From Barron's ● Dec. 15, 2025
It runs 15-30 minutes on a full battery, depending on the speed, and recharges in 45 minutes to about 3 hours, depending on your charger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
Regenerative braking in EVs, which recharges the battery, does not involve friction.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
“You’re going to have more short-term runoff leading to more floods and less snowpack that recharges the groundwater and the groundwater is ultimately what helps maintain stream flows.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
Of course your Skin recharges itself and the next time you eat fish it shocks you again.
From Rastignac the Devil by Philip José Farmer
Silicon is a highly effective and cheap material to use in anodes, but pure silicon expands and contracts as the battery operates and is recharged, which causes it to crack.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
My humble Level 2, 32-amp charger had fully recharged the Toyota by the time I got up in the morning, when it again became relevant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
"It stores sunlight, and it can be recharged."
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
Energy recovery and deployment are central to performance with engines that are served of electrical energy, and the battery is depleted and recharged on virtually every straight.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
“He was smart, the way he recharged his pterodactyl’s battery.”
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
Giuseppe Capanna, a product safety engineer at the campaigning charity Electrical Safety First, said lithium batteries carry enormous amounts of energy, which is handy for recharging devices.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
American Airlines last week prohibited passengers from recharging power banks using in-flight outlets, matching the policies of Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Other agencies are recharging aquifers at dozens of sites across California and are building more facilities to replenish groundwater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2026
The distance that electric trucks can travel without recharging can be drastically cut when towing heavy loads or operating in less ideal conditions, such as cold weather.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 29, 2025
The second battery still had a little juice left, but I can't just run it down all the way before I stop; remember, I need life support while recharging.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
