reclaim

[ri-kleym]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR reclaim ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to bring (uncultivated areas or wasteland) into a condition for cultivation or other use.

to recover (substances) in a pure or usable form from refuse, discarded articles, etc.

to bring back to a preferable manner of living, sound principles, ideas, etc.

to tame.

re-claim.

verb (used without object)

to protest; object.

noun

reclamation: beyond reclaim.

Origin of reclaim

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English recla(i)men < Old French reclamer (tonic stem reclaim-) < Latin reclāmāre to cry out against, equivalent to re- re- + clāmāre to claim; (noun) Middle English reclaim(e) < Old French reclaim, reclam, derivative of reclamer

Related formsre·claim·a·ble, adjectivere·claim·er, nounnon·re·claim·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·claim·a·ble, adjective

Can be confusedre-claim reclaim

Synonyms for reclaim

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR reclaim ON THESAURUS.COM

2. regain, restore. See recover.

re-claim

[ree-kleym]

verb (used with object)

to claim or demand the return or restoration of, as a right, possession, etc.

to claim again.

Also reclaim.

Origin of re-claim

1400–50; late Middle English. See re-, claim

Can be confusedre-claim reclaim

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for reclaim

restore, convert, recover, salvage, rescue, rehabilitate, improve, save, refurbish, repair, regenerate, recycle, redeem, remodel, recondition, mend, resolve, reform, recall, tame

Examples from the Web for reclaim

Contemporary Examples of reclaim

Officials have said the war to reclaim upward of a third of Iraq and a quarter of Syria from ISIS could take years.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War
Nancy A. Youssef
January 7, 2015
To reclaim it, he had to move beyond established conventions about how a literary career should be conducted.
A Year In The Life of The Canterbury Tales’ Storied Beginnings
Wendy Smith
December 25, 2014
When Gardner goes to Washington, will he reclaim his Tea Party roots and join hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz?
A GOP Star Rises in Colorado, Beats Udall
Eleanor Clift
November 5, 2014
Ohio is a must-win swing state for Republicans if they are to reclaim the White House.
John Kasich: The GOP’s Hobbled 2016 Dark Horse
W. James Antle III
November 3, 2014
In the face of these stereotypes, the Muslim Writers Collective is one attempt to reclaim the narrative of American Islam.
Defying Stereotypes, Young Muslim Writers Find Community Onstage
Julianne Chiaet
October 12, 2014

Historical Examples of reclaim

Now, there is nothing a woman likes so much as to reclaim a man.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
Yet it must be said too, that if there be a woman in the world that can reclaim him, it is you.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
This man did his best to reclaim young Badman, and was particularly kind to him.
Bunyan
James Anthony Froude
His friends at Government House, bewildered at this change in him, sought to reclaim him.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini
I cannot tell how she feels toward him; I know she has often tried to reclaim him from his deviltry.
Whispering Smith
Frank H. Spearman

British Dictionary definitions for reclaim

reclaim

verb (tr)

to claim backto reclaim baggage

to convert (desert, marsh, waste ground, etc) into land suitable for growing crops

to recover (useful substances) from waste products

to convert (someone) from sin, folly, vice, etc

falconry to render (a hawk or falcon) tame

noun

the act of reclaiming or state of being reclaimed

Derived Formsreclaimable, adjectivereclaimant or reclaimer, noun

Word Origin for reclaim

C13: from Old French réclamer, from Latin reclāmāre to cry out, protest, from re- + clāmāre to shout

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for reclaim

early 14c., "call back a hawk to the glove," from Old French reclamer "to call upon, invoke; claim; seduce; to call back a hawk" (12c.) and directly from Latin reclamare "cry out against, contradict, protest, appeal," from re- "opposite, against" (see re-) + clamare "cry out" (see claim (v.)).

"Call back a hawk," hence "to make tame" (mid-15c.), "subdue, reduce to obedience, make amenable to control" (late 14c.). In many Middle English uses with no sense of return or reciprocation. Meaning "revoke" (a grant, gift, etc.) is from late 15c. That of "recall (someone) from an erring course to a proper state" is mid-15c. Sense of "get back by effort" might reflect influence of claim. Meaning "bring waste land into useful condition fit for cultivation" first attested 1764, probably on notion of "reduce to obedience." Related: Reclaimed; reclaiming.