recreate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of recreate
1425–75; late Middle English recreaten < Latin recreātus (past participle of recreāre to create again, revive), equivalent to re- re- + creātus; see create
Explanation
To recreate means to give new life to something, to redo, or remake it. Say you become a billionaire and you grow tired of your mansion, try recreating your childhood home on your estate, so you can retire modestly. To recreate literally means to create over. If the mural you painted on the outside of your home was damaged in a flood, you might want to recreate it with waterproof paint. Recreate can also mean reimagine. If you become the principal of your old high school, you could throw out the old subjects and recreate high school education as everlasting game day. Recreate can also mean to play — it gives us the word recreation.
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:
Although further development and clinical validation will be important before the technology becomes an established dental treatment, its ability to recreate the structure and strength of natural enamel represents a promising advance.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Researchers have spent decades trying to recreate these remarkable biological systems artificially, and progress in this field was recognized with the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
But I’ll never be able to recreate the rush of hearing its blossoming piano and strings for the first time, sensing the soundwaves from those Klipschorn speakers penetrate my skin.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
Campbell approached ElevenLabs, a company that specialises in developing natural-sounding speech, to recreate her voice, the firm's Gabi Leibowitz told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
I'm trying to recreate something that was probably a one-in-a-billion event.
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
This distinctive pattern provides another potential indication that the extreme matter of the early universe is being recreated in oxygen collisions.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Scheffler, who does not own a smartphone, said he tried to ignore AI until someone showed him how his most famous creations had been digitally recreated in locations such as Silicon Valley and Oktoberfest.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Rather than relying on modern industrial processes, they recreated production techniques reconstructed from archaeological evidence associated with Neanderthals.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
Teams led by Google and QuEra Computing recreated related string breaking models using superconducting circuits and neutral atoms, respectively.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
When the radio was on, music has stimulated memory of times and places, complete with characters and stage sets, memories so exact that every word of dialogue is recreated.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
And while David Lean might have the edge in recreating African battles, Mr. Baudry creates two extended sequences that are emotionally exhilarating, and pivotal in the restoration of French pride.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Perhaps the biggest unsolved problem is recreating the dexterity of human hands with high-precision sensors and motors, a shortfall that was on full display when the robot loaded my dishwasher.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
At CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, physicists are recreating quark-gluon plasma to investigate the ingredients that filled the young universe.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
But this isn't a typical A&E unit in the NHS, it's a Hollywood set with actors recreating the drama of an emergency department for TV series The Pitt.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Finally, she tried her own drawings freehand, looking closely at the fragrant blooms, recreating their soft petals with washes of watercolor.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
