redo
Americanverb (used with object)
-
redoes,
present (3rd person singular)
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redid,
past
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redone,
past participle
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redoing
present participle
-
to do again; repeat.
-
to revise or reconstruct.
to redo the production schedule.
-
to redecorate or remodel; renovate.
It will cost too much to redo both the kitchen and bathroom.
noun
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redos,
plural
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redo's
plural
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the act or an instance of redoing.
-
something redone.
verb
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to do over again
-
informal to redecorate, esp thoroughly
we redid the house last summer
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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redosimple
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redoessimple
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have redoneperfect
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has redoneperfect
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am redoingprogressive
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are redoingprogressive
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is redoingprogressive
-
have been redoingperfect progressive
-
has been redoingperfect progressive
Past
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redidsimple
-
had redoneperfect
-
was redoingprogressive
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were redoingprogressive
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had been redoingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of redo
Explanation
To redo something is to do it over again, or to decorate it in a new way. You might redo your nail polish if the old layer is chipped, or redo your grandparents' living room if they're tired of the same old decor. Thank goodness for second chances! Whenever you start over on a project from the beginning, you redo it: "I painted over that self-portrait, because I want to redo it." Or, you might redo your English essay if you bombed the first draft. The word redo is most often used in terms of renovating a space: "Let's redo your kitchen! We can paint the cabinets and use that big piece of marble for the countertop."
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:
The green bollards seen on Bellflower Boulevard and Studebaker before the redo often get hit by cars and can resemble thick blades of stomped grass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
"It didn't go how we planned but we will have to find time to redo it," Jacks smiled.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
“Maybe if I was older, I would redo my vows here,” said the 18-year-old.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Swaths of stubborn flies bother his mechanics as they work, and he’s had to redo paint jobs and clear coats tainted by the thick dust from the warehouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Oh, well, remind me again who wanted to redo the kitchen?
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
This recycled trash is no treasure, but I’m betting the majority of this redo’s audience will be young enough to find ’90s-style schlock adorably quaint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025
Additionally, a backlog of companies waiting to IPO, which leads to debt stack redos, has been building and M&A is growing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
That’s why pretty much all of these live-action redos feel cold at their core.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
If you just practice your swoops a little bit, and you get infinite numbers of redos when you're swooping, you can just keep swooping to your heart's content.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2021
“Think about what you can save on redos alone” — which could translate to more investment in design and materials.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2019
Only endless remakes, redos, fusions, whatever crap they call them now.
From Nature ● Jun. 27, 2017
He said construction of the warehouse project must stop while the county redoes the report in a manner that complies with the law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
He meticulously redoes the foul lines with a string and wheelbarrow of paint, which Wilson prefers over chalk.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2022
Poppy, the waitress and single mother in Alexa Martin’s Fumbled, redoes her own kitchen with the help of Pinterest and free classes at the local Home Depot:
From Slate ● Nov. 27, 2020
Overnight, inspired by Micheline, Clarence redoes his entire collection and sends his houseful of female cutters, seamstresses, administrators, and secretaries into a frenzy of activity.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 1, 2018
It takes me four tries to get the tie on, and Dad still redoes it when he sees me.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
I just redid my personal website from scratch in 20 minutes without writing a single line of code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Outside, Brettler redid the pool, which was falling apart, and added a bathroom, a bar and concrete pavers that will move with earthquakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
"We redid our analysis at multiple spatial and taxonomic scales," Baldwin said.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
In the 1920s, they redid the waterfront, opened it up, got rid of some of the piers.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2024
Sure enough, when Levanthal redid the experiment, one small change was sufficient to tip the vaccination rate up to 28 percent.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
But, Goldberger goes on, “neither Trump’s arch nor his redone reflecting pool nor his gaggle of statues is a meaningful new layer of history.”
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
Soup to nuts: This phrase is a non-value-add in most cases as we can tell from the context of the statement something is being looked at or redone completely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
“And you’re probably thinking, like, ‘Girl, like, that does not look like it’s redone.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
One of my other brothers works in construction and says much of the work done fixing the house was done poorly, and will need to be redone.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2025
“But we’ve completely redone the important stuff. It’s a nice size for what we need.”
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Seuring said in an interview Tuesday that 21 Air’s training for redoing landings was good.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
He’s proposed a 250-foot arch in front of Arlington National Cemetery, redoing the reflecting pool, and even adding his face to passports and coins.
From Slate ● May 7, 2026
"I write the scripts, I plan the scenes, and keep redoing things because the AI generation messes up constantly," they wrote.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
If we get it for $1.3 million, we could put another $300,000 into gutting and insulating it, redoing the electrics and upgrading the windows and doors, and do the rest over time.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
Miss Saunders takes out a mirror and starts redoing her lipstick.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
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.
