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
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have recapturedperfect
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has recapturedperfect 3rd person singular
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have been recapturingperfect progressive
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is recapturingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been recapturingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am recapturingprogressive 1st person singular
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are recapturingprogressive
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recapturingparticiple
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recapturessingular 3rd person
Past
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had recapturedperfect
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was recapturingprogressive singular
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were recapturingprogressive plural
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had been recapturingperfect progressive
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recapturedparticiple
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recapturedsimple
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.
In Joby’s motion to dismiss Archer’s counterclaims months later, Joby wrote that Archer was “attempting to recapture the narrative” and that its claims “do not deny that Joby is ahead.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
None of this means that Tesla might not be able to recapture its mojo in the EV market.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
Then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government sent a naval task force to recapture them.
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026
Bulls would ideally like to see a recapture of the 200 day simple moving average but this offers good risk/reward here.
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026
Almost could they recapture the gunpowder of yesterday.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
