rephrase
Americanverb (used with object)
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rephrases,
present (3rd person singular)
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rephrased,
past participle, past
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rephrasing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rephrasesimple
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rephrasessimple
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have rephrasedperfect
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has rephrasedperfect
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am rephrasingprogressive
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are rephrasingprogressive
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is rephrasingprogressive
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have been rephrasingperfect progressive
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has been rephrasingperfect progressive
Past
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rephrasedsimple
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had rephrasedperfect
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was rephrasingprogressive
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were rephrasingprogressive
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had been rephrasingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rephrase
Explanation
To rephrase something is to say it again, in a slightly different way. You might rephrase your question if the person you're asking doesn't understand it the first time. You might want to rephrase something to clarify a statement, adjust your ideas to fit your audience, or try not to offend the person you're talking to. A salesman might rephrase his pitch if he's not having much success selling encyclopedias, and an author might rephrase material from a book so that the kindergartners she's talking to will understand her. The word combines the prefix re-, "again," and phrase, from the Greek phrasis, or "speech."
Vocabulary lists containing rephrase
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:
"No, I'll rephrase that. For the normal man. But the reason he has accomplished what he's accomplished, and the reason he's done what he's done, is because he's not a normal man."
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
She said she volunteered in November to mediate the meetings, instructing residents to wait their turn to speak or rephrase their questions without profanity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
I’ll rephrase that, since most writers don’t necessarily want to ascribe good or evil to their characters.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2024
It’s surprisingly challenging to definitively answer this question, as we’ll see, so let’s slightly rephrase: How many naked-eye stars host planets that we know about?
From Scientific American ● Oct. 6, 2023
“How on earth do you—” I decided to rephrase the question.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Or, as he rephrases the question: “I mean, why doesn’t it violate the Constitution to hold a person in prison for 20 years, for conduct which the Constitution forbids making criminal?”
From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2015
Even when Charlie quotes from court transcripts, he interrupts, rephrases and edits in order to show us more clearly what he wants to say.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2013
Not even Pinocchio’s dullest young reader will fail to miss Collodi’s message, since he rephrases it in one way or another in nearly every chapter.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2011
It’s the way he takes other sources and purposefully either omits credit or rephrases the information so that his audience will likely infer it’s his own work.
From Newsweek
An old friend learns shocking things about the title figure after his death, and the author skillfully rephrases an old truth-that most people know of others only what it is comfortable to know.
From Time Magazine Archive
Augustin cited research that documented a pattern in which chatbots rephrased and extrapolated what people shared, and told them they’re unique and that their thoughts have great implications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins rephrased parts of a report on the Horizon IT system after advice from barrister Warwick Tatford.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2024
She rephrased her posts to clarify she meant the midterm elections.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2022
Perhaps the question should be rephrased: What is the movie’s lead?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2021
We can readily understand Michelangelo’s discomfort, for Titian has rephrased his sculpture in utterly sensuous terms through the painterly application of sonorous color that is characteristic of his work.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
It sparked mocking on social media, and from rivals such as Wyze, which put out its own online video satirically rephrasing Ring's commercial.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
By rephrasing melodies, throwing in slang, using nonsense syllables, embracing scatting, and making it seem as if he was speaking directly to you, he changed the way people sang and thought about vocal performances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
Wallace tried rephrasing the question by asking if Driver ever thought his career would be easier if he looked like Robert Redford.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
Information-rich resources like newspapers and discussion boards might find that these systems are harvesting their material and rephrasing it so eloquently that nobody ever bothers to navigate to the original page.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2023
Interactions in the networked world exemplify this rephrasing even better.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
