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• reconstruction
  reconstruction

  noun

  the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed.
• Reconstruction
  Reconstruction

  noun

  history the period after the Civil War when the South was reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865–77)

reconstruction

American  

[ree-kuhn-struhk-shuhn] / ˌri kənˈstrʌk ʃən /

noun

reconstructions plural

1. the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed.

   the gigantic task of reconstruction after a fire.

2. something reconstructed, rebuilt, or reassembled.

   a reconstruction of the sequence of events leading to his death; accurate reconstructions of ancient Greek buildings.

3. (initial capital letter)

   1. the process by which the states that had seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War.

   2. the period during which this took place, 1865–77.

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Reconstruction British  

/ ˌriːkənˈstrʌkʃən /

noun

1. history the period after the Civil War when the South was reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865–77)

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Reconstruction Cultural  

1. The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. During Reconstruction, the South was divided into military districts for the supervision of elections to set up new state governments. These governments often included carpetbaggers, as former officials of the Confederacy were not allowed to serve in them. The new state governments approved three amendments to the Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment, which had a provision keeping some former supporters of the Confederacy out of public office until Congress allowed them to serve; and the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights for black men. Once a state approved the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, it was to be readmitted to the United States and again represented in Congress. The official end of Reconstruction came in 1877, when the last troops were withdrawn from the South.

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Discover More

The program established for Reconstruction, largely the work of Republicans in the North, was far more severe than what President Abraham Lincoln had proposed before his assassination. Large numbers of white southerners resented being kept out of the “healing” of the nation that Lincoln had called for and were unwilling to give up their former authority. Ill feeling by former Confederates during Reconstruction led to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and a long-standing hatred among southerners for the Republican party.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pre-Reconstruction
  noun
• self-reconstruction
  noun
• reconstructional
  adjective
• reconstructionary
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reconstructions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reconstruction

First recorded in 1785–95; re- + construction

Explanation

When you put something back together or rebuild it, you do a reconstruction, like the reconstruction of a neighborhood after a flood or earthquake. Combine the prefix re-, or "again" with construction and you get a word that means "the process of putting something back together." Crime or accident reconstruction help experts figure out what really happened and possibly who is guilty or at fault, but reconstruction can also be the rebuilding of place that has been damaged, or the time of the rebuilding, like the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reconstruction Reconstruction reconstructions

The talks are also expected to touch on Gaza, as diplomatic efforts to kickstart the devastated Palestinian territory's reconstruction are at a standstill.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

He also said the authenticity of the bite marks on the photo — which form a circular shape with an absence of bruising — could be challenged in court by an expert in tooth reconstruction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

It has rejected plans from the US-led Board of Peace that prioritise immediate demilitarisation over reconstruction.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

That added timing information could help the system determine more accurately where each photon came from and improve the reconstruction of particle tracks.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

He initially began his reconstruction of the debate to commemorate it.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

“When a baby is born on American soil and an American flag flies above, that baby is a birthright citizen, as the Reconstruction Republicans across the land understood,” he wrote in February.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

"Reconstruction can become a driver of economic activity, but only if there are sufficient resources, institutions capable of carrying it out, and rules that generate confidence for investment," said Oliveros.

From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026

His account of Reconstruction is infused with outrage at a constitutional order that denied Black people membership in the political community of the very nation their labor had helped build.

From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026

For too long, constitutional history has been written as though Reconstruction emerged from debates among judges, senators, and legal scholars.

From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026

Constitutional amendments guaranteeing African Americans “equal protection of the laws” and the right to vote proved as impotent as the Emancipation Proclamation once a white backlash against Reconstruction gained steam.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

The team created digital reconstructions of femurs from seven different sauropods.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 30, 2026

Stadium reconstructions are "becoming more important because of the situation with television media rights", Manuel Gutierrez, vice president of European asset finance at Morningstar DBRS, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

Unreal has since been applied to modelling architectural projects, onboard navigation for cars and reconstructions in television news reports.

From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026

How different this is from the archaeological reconstructions of his Beaux-Arts-trained contemporaries, examples of which are shown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026

There ensued widespread and continuing disorganization of the trade, which had to be met by extensive reconstructions of over-capitalized companies.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various

Related Words

• rehabilitation
• reorganization
• repair
• restoration