reconstitute
Americanverb (used with object)
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reconstitutes,
present (3rd person singular)
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reconstituted,
past participle, past
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reconstituting
present participle
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to constitute again; reconstruct; recompose.
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to return (a dehydrated or concentrated food or other substance) to the liquid state by adding water.
to reconstitute a bouillon cube with hot water.
verb (used without object)
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reconstitutes,
present (3rd person singular)
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reconstituted,
past participle, past
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reconstituting
present participle
verb
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to restore (food, etc) to its former or natural state or a semblance of it, as by the addition of water to a concentrate
reconstituted lemon juice
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to reconstruct; form again
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reconstitutionnoun
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reconstituentadjective
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reconstitutableadjective
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reconstitutibleadjective
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reconstitutiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reconstitutesimple
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reconstitutessimple
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have reconstitutedperfect
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has reconstitutedperfect
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am reconstitutingprogressive
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are reconstitutingprogressive
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is reconstitutingprogressive
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have been reconstitutingperfect progressive
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has been reconstitutingperfect progressive
Past
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reconstitutedsimple
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had reconstitutedperfect
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was reconstitutingprogressive
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were reconstitutingprogressive
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had been reconstitutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reconstitute
First recorded in 1805–15; re- + constitute
Explanation
To reconstitute something is to rebuild it or change the way it's organized. After your club president moves away, you might reconstitute the group by putting the former treasurer in charge and inviting new members to join. You get reconstitute by adding re-, "again," to constitute, from a Latin word meaning "form something new" or "set in order." Taking the disassembled pieces of something and putting them back together is one way to reconstitute something. You might reconstitute a group of friends who spent an angry summer not speaking to each other, or reconstitute a bowl of dehydrated ramen noodles by adding boiling water, restoring them to their original, delicious state.
Vocabulary lists containing reconstitute
Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 1
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Excerpt from "Speak"
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Boy 2.0
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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:
"This could add another layer of stress to the nation's ability to reconstitute the weapons," Khan said, noting that rare earths are used in "everything from drones and interceptors to F-35s and precision-guided missiles."
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
This is because the durable enforcement of a deal would require European peacekeeping forces, and both Russia and Ukraine would most likely seek to reconstitute their military capabilities and rearm in any case.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
“They can reconstitute their nuclear program at a later date,” Kavanagh said.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026
But the group has dug in its heels, working steadily to reconstitute its ranks and arguing it needs its weapons to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
“This,” Dr. Ramaswami said, “is an extinct flower. We have an impression of it, and we can’t reconstitute it, but we were able to figure out what it smells like.”
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
The new paper reconstitutes that process in yeast, with additional steps added because yeast do not contain some enzymes that naturally exist in plants.
From Science Daily ● May 8, 2024
It pulls from lots of well-worn formats but reconstitutes everything into its own chilly terrazzo, sometimes to exciting effect.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
Instead, she reconstitutes the department’s shuttered cold case unit — with herself as its leader.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2022
It’s all that remains before the team reconstitutes in Qatar on Nov. 14 — five days after the 26-man roster is announced and seven before the Wales test.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2022
Through them the body reconstitutes itself hourly and daily.
From Number Seventeen by Louis Tracy
Tehran reconstituted some of its weapons programs after the U.S. and Israel tried to destroy them in the early days of the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The reconstituted group largely abandoned the framework, allowing the committee to judge evidence of dubious quality alongside large randomized controlled trials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
“A reasonable consumer would not think that BWW’s boneless wings were truly deboned chicken wings, reconstituted into some sort of Franken-wing,” Tharp said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
So the following list of the fund’s largest 10 holdings reflects price increases since it was last reconstituted or rebalanced.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 28, 2026
The hot lunch is turkey with reconstituted dried mashed potatoes and gravy, a damp green vegetable, and a cookie.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Proud proposes reconstituting semiconductors into a vertically integrated industry where one company owns the entire process.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
And if the signs are Tehran is secretly reconstituting the programme or racing for a bomb then the conflict is likely to begin again.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2025
The Vatican forbade him from public or private ministry, ordered L’Eau Vive dissolved and its members forbidden from reconstituting the community.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
I have rarely been more clearly yet delicately aware of Beethoven’s most visionary passages here: the orchestra mistily reconstituting itself near the end of the first movement, the amorphous clouds of harmonies in the finale.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
When I reflect on that moment now, the image blurs, reconstituting itself into that of a zealous knight astride a steed, charging into an imaginary battle, striking at shadows, hacking into thin air.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
