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:
At 24, Jeremy Doku is an elite talent, though he was not able to recreate the form he found with Manchester City last season.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Maybe it was the bowl of pasta from Rome, the fish tacos from a beach town or the perfect tomato sandwich you ate on somebody else’s porch You’re not really trying to recreate lunch.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
When researchers attempted to recreate the atmosphere using computer models, they encountered a problem.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
To better understand what happened, researchers used advanced computer simulations to recreate the ancient impact that produced the SPA basin.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026
Joseph put on the broken watch and decided to recreate the beloved study he remembered from America.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
To investigate the process, the researchers recreated marine snow in the laboratory using diatoms, microscopic algae that naturally clump together as they sink through the ocean.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
It's a nice marriage between the two, albeit disappointing that some things were not recreated - such as the ability to wield your assassin's hidden blades in combat.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
He’s not trying to convince himself that Paris can be recreated beside four lanes of Bakersfield traffic.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
The attraction -- "The Beatles at 3 Savile Row" -- will feature seven floors of never-seen-before archive material and a recreated basement studio where the Fab Four recorded their 1970 "Let It Be" album.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
She’s recreated the dish Mama taught us in cooking club.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
MarketWatch spent the better part of a day recreating it.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
The vote was widely derided by democracy monitors abroad, but China supports it as recreating a semblance of normality, analysts say.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Mr. Hamm, who finally shows up late in the movie, has an equally good time in the opposite direction, recreating himself as a supercilious playboy lounging around in a bathrobe all day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Scenes animated in hand-drawn style are designed to bring Bonnie’s imagination to life, recreating the vivid magic of designing entire stories and character arcs for toys during playtime.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 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
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.
