redefine
Britishverb
Explanation
Redefine means to "give new meaning to." A really fantastic song might redefine what rock and roll can mean to people. A great muffin might redefine the idea of what a muffin can be. Technically, redefine means to define again or differently––to give a new meaning. As a basketball player, Michael Jordan redefined the jump shot––it became something much more common and much more aggressively taken. By turning the packaging design of Campbell's soup into paintings, Andy Warhol redefined art.
Vocabulary lists containing redefine
President Trump's Second State of the Union Address (2019)
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Should girls be allowed to join the boy scouts? 10 Vocab Words
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for March 4–March 10, 2023
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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.
"This scientific breakthrough underscores the power of research to redefine what we thought was possible and advance new approaches to cancer treatment," said Sreekala Bajwa, dean of the agricultural college.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
The Duo, he said, is the "result of a series of remarkable innovations that we think will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Whoever is first to push the technological limit even an inch higher will redefine what’s possible across every industry,” Tang wrote in a memo to employees in July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
“We believe individualized neoantigen therapies have the potential to redefine how patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma are treated.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
The problem lies in getting yourself out of Christmas, because when you come out of it, you have to redefine the lines between reality and imagination.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
