redecorate
Britishverb
Other Word Forms
Explanation
When you redecorate something, you renovate or fix it up again. If, for example, you redecorate your bedroom, you might get a new comforter, move your bed across the room, and hang some pictures on the wall. When people redecorate, they may paint walls entirely new colors or put up wallpaper. They might also hang new curtains, pull up old carpet and refinish floors, rearrange furniture, and even buy brand new furnishings. This verb almost always applies to a home, like an apartment, house, or dorm room. Redecorate adds the "again" prefix re- to decorate, which has the Latin root decus, "an ornament."
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.
“It made me want to redecorate my whole house,” said Nicole Schenk, a Philadelphia-based nurse practitioner who booked the suite for a staycation with friends.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
“It would be a sacrilege merely to redecorate it — a word I hate. It must be restored, and that has nothing to do with decoration. That is a question of scholarship.”
From Salon • Jan. 4, 2026
"To redecorate authentically, we commissioned a decorative analysis and pigment analysis of the paint layers to identify the correct 1860s paint scheme and guide our colour choices."
From BBC • Jul. 5, 2023
In about 1980, Ms. Landau met and hired the New York theater and restaurant designer Bill Katz to redecorate her apartment on Park Avenue, where she had since moved.
From New York Times • Mar. 28, 2023
There were stories of them marching into Gibson’s, the big discount chain that eventually went belly up like everything else, and plunking down $2,000 or $3,000 to redecorate their mobile homes from head to toe.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
