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:
So, for an affordable alternative, you can find recordings of sound baths on platforms like YouTube and Spotify and recreate the experience at home.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Watch a century-old lighting company recreate a neon color that was lost as businesses switched to LED.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Los Angeles has been through so much over the past several years, but the city is resilient. You simply can’t recreate this city anywhere else, and I’m excited to bring Cher home.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The setup made it possible to recreate extreme conditions that ordinary solid materials cannot reach while isolating the effects of particle collisions.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
“The details aren’t cleai; really,” Jonas explained, trying to recreate the odd dream in his mind.
From "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
In “102 Minutes,” it’s recreated, as is much of the show’s ornamentation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
In the museum's recreated listening rooms, visitors can hear actors reading out some of the conversations.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
He’s not trying to convince himself that Paris can be recreated beside four lanes of Bakersfield traffic.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Beyond helping explain mysterious radio signals, the system also offers scientists a rare opportunity to study extreme physical conditions that cannot be recreated in laboratories on Earth.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 2, 2026
Instead of dreaming their tragic forms, I recreated them as living, laughing people in the cool red confines of RiRi’s tent as she drifted off.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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
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
Burton's lab studies dusty plasma and similar materials by recreating them in controlled experiments.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 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.
