restitute
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to make restitution for.
-
to restore to a former state or position.
Usage
What does restitute mean? Restitute means to make restitution—payment or some other form of compensation to make up for loss, damage, or injury that has been caused. The word restitution is much more commonly used than the verb restitute. Restitution can also refer to the act or process of restituting. The point of restitution is to return what has been lost or stolen or to repair the damage or injury that has been done so that things can be returned to how they originally were or as close as possible. The word is especially used in a legal context to refer to compensation that is required by someone who has caused loss, damage, or injury as part of a crime. Restitution often involves monetary payments, but it can involve other forms of compensation. Example: The defendant was ordered to pay $1 million dollars to restitute for injuries and property damage.
Etymology
Origin of restitute
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin restitūtus, past participle of restituere to set up again, restore, equivalent to re- re- + -stitū-, variant stem of -stituere (combining form of statuere to set upright, derivative of stāre to stand ) + -tus past participle suffix
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.
He would like to see "more freedom for museums, but then a kind of backstop, a committee where we would have to appeal if we wanted to restitute items".
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2024
The panel advised the bank to restitute the 1907 tempera painting, “Colorful Life,” to the heirs of Emanuel Albert Lewenstein, the director of a sewing machine factory, and his wife, Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann.
From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2023
The decision to restitute them follows several years of contacts between Berlin’s museum authority and Colombia, and an official Colombian request last year for their return.
From Washington Times • Jun. 16, 2023
Macron said the 26 pieces will be given back at the end of October, “because to restitute these works to Africa is to give African young people access to their culture.”
From Seattle Times • Oct. 8, 2021
But as soon as we handle this thought as a psychotherapeutic remedy, destined to restitute the disturbed psychological equilibrium, it becomes evident that the very uniformity of it makes it a clumsy, inadjustable pattern.
From Psychotherapy by Münsterberg, Hugo
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.
