redirect
Americanverb (used with object)
-
redirects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
redirected,
past participle, past
-
redirecting
present participle
-
to direct again.
-
to change the direction or focus of.
He redirected the children's energies toward building a sand castle instead of throwing sand at each other.
adjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
redirectsimple
-
redirectssimple
-
have redirectedperfect
-
has redirectedperfect
-
am redirectingprogressive
-
are redirectingprogressive
-
is redirectingprogressive
-
have been redirectingperfect progressive
-
has been redirectingperfect progressive
Past
-
redirectedsimple
-
had redirectedperfect
-
was redirectingprogressive
-
were redirectingprogressive
-
had been redirectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of redirect
Explanation
When you redirect something, you point it in a different direction. If your dog keeps licking your friends' knees, you might have to redirect her attention to a squeaky toy. Beavers can famously redirect the flow of water in a stream or river by building dams that divert the flow in a new direction. The very best elementary school teachers are experts at redirecting the attention of young kids, like when a music teacher redirects a class's energy into an enthusiastic round of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." The direct part of redirect comes from the Latin dirigere, "set straight."
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:
If the teen tries a shortcut, “responsible homework reminders” will redirect teens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The Russian agriculture ministry announced on Wednesday that it was working to redirect cargo flows to ports in the Baltic and Caspian Seas as well as land routes.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
While this push to redirect the country’s scientific research has incited alarm, reactions to interventions in the historical humanities have been more muted.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Police may close roads, establish perimeters, kettle crowds, redirect traffic, block movement, and call those acts public order.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Mark Antony, ready to redirect his attention to the Parthian campaign, moved his family to Athens to set up his headquarters.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
Joan Bosch, Eala’s coach since 2023, said Eala’s game translates naturally to grass because she absorbs and redirects pace so effectively.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Microsoft shared that it’s sacrificing Azure growth as it redirects compute capacity internally to improve Copilot.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 9, 2026
Software stocks could recover by developing their own AI products or if a slowdown in AI infrastructure spending redirects investment back to the sector.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
A button redirects users to an Uber webpage to book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
It redirects our attention to the great source and fountainhead of human life.
From The Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger
Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, had redirected 55 commercial ships, disabled two and boarded two to enforce the blockade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
"At a certain point, we wondered whether that same current control could be redirected from cells to molecules, replacing the neuron-facing electrodes with ring-electrode pairs that could localize pH for DNA synthesis. It worked."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Around 2,500 people in California were redirected, and in Los Angeles, specifically, some 200 people were deterred, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
He said the drive that pushed him earlier in his career has been redirected somewhere else, but it took years of practice and being surrounded by an older generation with wisdom to stop keeping score.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
She still owned a closet full of hideous neon T-shirts and shorts from their last shopping trip, so she instead redirected him to a bookstore.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
IBM’s near-total dominance of an obscure but important corner of tech hasn’t made it immune to customers redirecting their IT budgets toward memory and storage chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Scrapping digital ID, the spokesperson said, will mean "redirecting the resources earmarked for the scheme towards people's everyday priorities".
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
These actions included things like changing the title on bank accounts and other property, redirecting household bills, canceling credit cards, consolidating retirement accounts, making Roth conversions and giving away money.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
The city has “exceeded expectations” in food recovery, he said, saving 80 million meals that would have been thrown out and redirecting them to people in need.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Ron, you’re making it snow,” said Hermione patiently, grabbing his wrist and redirecting his wand away from the ceiling from which, sure enough, large white flakes had started to fall.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
