verb
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to restore (something) to good condition
to renovate paintings
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to revive or refresh (one's spirits, health, etc)
Usage
What does renovate mean? Renovate most commonly means to make improvements or changes to a structure, especially to the inside of a home or other kind of building. For example, a homeowner might renovate a room in their house by painting it and getting new flooring. This is often much more extensive: renovating a kitchen can involve getting new cabinets and appliances as well as new painting and new flooring, perhaps even a new layout. Some people renovate their homes themselves, while others hire a contractor to do it. The process of renovating is called renovation. The word renovation can also refer to such a project, as in This renovation is going way over budget. The word renovated can be used as an adjective to describe spaces that have been improved in this way, as in a newly renovated kitchen. More generally, renovate means to restore something to good condition—to repair or refurbish it. However, outside of the context of home improvement, the terms restore, refurbish, and repair are more often used. Renovate can also mean to reinvigorate, refresh, or revive, but this sense of the word isn’t commonly used either. Example: I’m planning to renovate the bathroom with new tile and a new vanity.
Synonym Usage
See renew.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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renovationnoun
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renovatornoun
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renovatableadjective
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renovativeadjective
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unrenovatedadjective
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unrenovativeadjective
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renovatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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renovatesimple
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renovatessimple
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have renovatedperfect
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has renovatedperfect
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am renovatingprogressive
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are renovatingprogressive
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is renovatingprogressive
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have been renovatingperfect progressive
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has been renovatingperfect progressive
Past
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renovatedsimple
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had renovatedperfect
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was renovatingprogressive
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were renovatingprogressive
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had been renovatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of renovate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (adjective), from Latin renovātus (past participle of renovāre ), equivalent to re- re- + novus new + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To renovate means to renew or rebuild so that something is in good condition. When you move into an old house, you will probably want to renovate the kitchen and bathrooms. Most usages of the word renovate revolve around buildings and architecture. During a generation change in a neighborhood, retired people move out and young families move in. They want to give new life to the old house they have bought so they renovate it by painting, redoing the floors, etc. If you renovate a historic building, you restore to its original splendor. Think of this sense of renewal if something renovates your spirits.
Vocabulary lists containing renovate
Brand Spankin' New: Words with Neo- and Nov-
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Power Prefix: re-
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The Westing Game
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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:
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved $466.6 million in funding that will be doled out to developers, nonprofits, land trusts and other organizations to build and renovate affordable housing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Now, the company hired to renovate the landmark has acknowledged that the biggest problem came from the renovation itself.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Baum and Whiteman won the proposal to renovate, which cost $25 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Without doing so, Hammond would be unable to carry out his plans to renovate the barn.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Now that the city was cleaned up, Mr. Stone was apparently trying to renovate its inhabitants.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
Prices may go up as supply contracts, insurance payments flood in, and investment renovates buildings to code; prices may go down as rising premiums and maintenance fees get tacked on.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2024
The company improves common areas, fixes plumbing, roof and other building deficiencies and renovates apartments when people move out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024
Since 2022 Trixie's also had her own show on Discovery+, Trixie Motel, which follows the drag queen as she renovates a motel in California.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2024
Beyond the Carter Center, the couple became the most famous volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, the international outfit that builds, repairs and renovates homes for low-income people.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
Then the sea of life also submits on agitation, stirred up by men, and death renovates the waters of the sea of life, that they might not become spoiled.
From The Man Who Was Afraid by Herman Bernstein
The bar’s co-owner Oleksandra Pastushenko renovated the space last year when she was 25.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
In 1994, he moved his family to live in a renovated Peak District farmhouse which had been donated to NOS, jurors heard.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
A vast, newly renovated hangar houses planes undergoing inspection, including one with its twin turboprop engines exposed.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
She picked up one abode in 2017 for just under $10 million but sold that off just three years later, having renovated the home extensively before deciding to put it back on the market.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
We’d be living in a better place, clean and newly renovated.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Prada’s strategy is on display beneath the soaring glass dome of Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where the company spent more than three years renovating around its original 1913 store.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
They also have the opportunity to increase the value of their home by renovating the kitchen and doing other projects.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Roberts moved into her four-bedroom house in 2011 and spent two years renovating the property with her husband.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Ross Simmons found the water-damaged copy of “The Antiquities of Athens” while renovating a house in the seaside town of Kiama, south of Sydney.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
After years of neglect, the city was finally renovating Vickers Park.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
