redouble
Americanverb (used with object)
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to double; make twice as great.
If you hope to win that client, you'll have to redouble your efforts to impress her.
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to echo or reecho.
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Bridge. to double the double of (an opponent).
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to go back over.
I redoubled my footsteps, trying to find my lost earring.
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Archaic. to repeat.
verb (used without object)
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to be doubled; become twice as great.
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to be echoed; resound.
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Bridge. to double the double of an opponent.
noun
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Bridge. the act of doubling one's opponent's double.
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Fencing. an attack in a line other than that of the previous attack, made after the failure of the opponent to follow their parry of the previous attack with a riposte.
verb
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to make or become much greater in intensity, number, etc
to redouble one's efforts
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to send back (sounds) or (of sounds) to be sent back; echo or re-echo
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bridge to double (an opponent's double)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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redoublesimple
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redoublessimple
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have redoubledperfect
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has redoubledperfect
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am redoublingprogressive
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are redoublingprogressive
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is redoublingprogressive
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have been redoublingperfect progressive
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has been redoublingperfect progressive
Past
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redoubledsimple
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had redoubledperfect
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was redoublingprogressive
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were redoublingprogressive
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had been redoublingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of redouble
From the Middle French word redoubler, dating back to 1470–80. See re-, double
Explanation
To redouble something is to intensify it or make it bigger. After losing your initial run for school president, you might redouble your efforts the next year, with a bigger and better campaign. You'll almost always find the verb redouble accompanied by efforts, as when the local police force makes a pledge to redouble their efforts to cut down on people texting while driving. Or in an attempt to have a more diverse student body, a college might redouble its efforts to recruit applicants from different geographical areas. The root of redouble is the Middle French word redoubler, which combines re, "again," and doubler, "to double."
Vocabulary lists containing redouble
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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.
See Examples For:
Washington could then redouble its focus on the Indo-Pacific.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
"It is high time for Europe to step up its game. To redouble its efforts to reduce our dependencies on China," Sejourne told EU lawmakers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
Those arguing that gold will double and then redouble from here would extend the line on this chart straight up.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2025
Speaking about the protests, Kyle said on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg moments like these were "klaxon calls" for those in power to redouble their efforts to address the big concerns people have, including on immigration.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2025
Although Burnham recognized that much work lay ahead—that Olmsted had to redouble his efforts and Ferris needed to finish that damned wheel—the success of the exposition now seemed assured.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
When the tankers flow through the Strait again, or if the UAE redoubles its attempts to build new pipelines, Emirati oil will flow like never before, unconstrained by Opec commitments.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
But it is also frustrating, and rereading redoubles that frustration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
It could be, for example, that as a fund manager becomes aware that his trades are predictable, he redoubles his efforts to make his trades less predictable—which, in turn, should improve his performance.
From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026
But rather than a distraction, it redoubles the impact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
If they are very numerous, and most of them strangers to one another, their vanity redoubles, because there are greater hopes of success.”
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old
Chinese automakers have redoubled efforts to expand overseas amid a slowing domestic market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
But Canberra has redoubled efforts to diversify export markets for farmers since a 2020 dispute with Beijing saw agriculture exports blocked for several years, and then last year's global imposition of US trade tariffs.
From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026
This week, Sir Keir Starmer and his ministers redoubled their efforts to win over Labour MPs minded to join what could be the biggest rebellion yet against his government.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Congress redoubled that effort following the Civil War, requiring the states to guarantee public education in their state constitutions and establish the first Department of Education.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2025
A spray of pellets followed, stinging into their hindquarters so that they leaped simultaneously and redoubled their speed.
From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford
Countries are redoubling efforts to build alternative payment infrastructure.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
"A modest reduction is not cause for complacency – it is cause for redoubling efforts."
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
But in recent years, amid mounting alarm over its plummeting fertility rates, South Korea has been redoubling its decades-long efforts — such as ethnic identity-building campaigns and employment programs — to bring them back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024
But this year, with Vermont, Pennsylvania and possibly other states joining the fold, organizers are redoubling their efforts to advance the bills to floor votes and then to passage.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
They redesigned the spacecraft, fixing flaws that had been exposed by the disaster and redoubling their focus on every possible detail of the next nine missions, each a step in the stairway to the Moon.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
