recharge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to charge again with electricity.
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Informal. to refresh or restore; revitalize.
verb (used without object)
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to make a new charge, especially to attack again.
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Informal. to revive or restore energy, stamina, enthusiasm, etc.
noun
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an act or instance of recharging.
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Geology. the processes by which groundwater is absorbed into the zone of saturation.
verb
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to cause (an accumulator, capacitor, etc) to take up and store electricity again
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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
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rechargesimple
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rechargessimple
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have rechargedperfect
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has rechargedperfect
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am rechargingprogressive
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are rechargingprogressive
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is rechargingprogressive
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have been rechargingperfect progressive
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has been rechargingperfect progressive
Past
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rechargedsimple
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had rechargedperfect
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was rechargingprogressive
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were rechargingprogressive
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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:
At the lots, the company’s 56 cars recharge and are cleaned and serviced by contractors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Intense rainfall may fall in the wrong locations, run off too quickly, or fail to recharge the systems that sustain the lakes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
In these circumstances, the battery does not have enough capacity to deliver a full charge on both straights, and it's not possible to recover enough energy in one braking zone to fully recharge it.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
They’re useful for remote military applications, where soldiers can use them to recharge an ever-growing array of electronic devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Who’d taught her how to recharge her batteries in nature.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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
The wetland attracts birds, such as coots and tricolored blackbirds, and also recharges the aquifer that the roots of cottonwoods and willows tap into.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2024
The man who enjoys his work requires less time for recreation and exercise, for his enjoyment recharges the storage battery of energy.
From Increasing Human Efficiency in Business, a contribution to the psychology of business by Scott, Walter Dill
"It recharged her and made her feel better," McVey said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
"It stores sunlight, and it can be recharged."
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
These signature rings are only as powerful as the will of the wearer and periodically need to be recharged.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
The robots operate during weekday business hours and can run for 12 continuous hours before they need to be recharged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
It was a good bull, a big bull, and with horns, and it turned and recharged easily and surely.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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
At Schaeffler, Digit labors alone inside a Plexiglas cage, moving baskets for four hours, recharging over lunch, then going again for another four hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
Eating out is an experience he values, a way of recharging mentally after stetches of demanding care work.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 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
I'd have to swap batteries again when I'm recharging them, but again, so what?
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.
