reignite

British  

/ ˌriːɪɡˈnaɪt /

verb

1. to catch fire or cause to catch fire again

   the burners reignited

2. to flare up or cause to flare up again

   to reignite the war

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Explanation

To reignite something is to light it on fire again. If you want to reignite your campfire after pouring a pail of water on it, you'll have to find some dry wood. You can literally reignite things like gas stoves, birthday candles, or sparklers if their flames have been extinguished. You can also figuratively reignite something by making it flare up in some way: "The release of the balloons at the end of the rally was sure to reignite the crowd's excitement." This word adds the "again" prefix re- to ignite, from the Latin root ignis, "fire."

Example Sentences

China's consumer spending and factory output grew at their slowest pace in years last month, official data showed Monday, a stark sign of the challenges Beijing faces to reignite domestic activity.

From Barron's • May 18, 2026

The big question about the heavily hyped new release was whether Drake would use his new music to reignite his bitter feud with Lamar.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

His antics might be off-putting, but his pursuit of renewable rockets has helped reignite humanities’ dreams for space and beyond.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

“Until that dynamic shifts,” he wrote, “a return to bundling — which may ultimately be necessary to reignite growth in total consumer video spend — seems unlikely in the near term.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026

Eventually the sons would arrive at a new transitory order and reignite the sun, letting existence begin anew.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann