resurrect
Americanverb (used with object)
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to raise from the dead; bring to life again.
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to bring back into use, practice, etc..
to resurrect an ancient custom.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to rise or raise from the dead; bring or be brought back to life
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(tr) to bring back into use or activity; revive
to resurrect an ancient law
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(tr) to renew (one's hopes, etc)
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facetious (tr) (formerly) to exhume and steal (a body) from its grave, esp in order to sell it
Other Word Forms
- resurrector noun
- unresurrected adjective
Etymology
Origin of resurrect
First recorded in 1765–75; back formation from resurrection
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.
During an address to Congress in March last year, Trump had vowed to resurrect commercial and military shipbuilding and said the U.S. would be making ships “very fast, very soon.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
“I don’t know if we could resurrect that. Has that been considered?”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026
U.S. refiners, however, “have been the winners thanks to PDVSA’s demise and they could see that edge increase if Western companies resurrect Venezuelan crude-oil production,” Kloza said.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 6, 2026
While their friends seemingly destroy Vecna, Eleven's intervention to resurrect Max gives the villain a lifeline.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025
Unfortunately, this theory would also retroactively outlaw choreograph, diagnose, resurrect, edit, sculpt, sleepwalk, and hundreds of other verbs that have become completely unexceptionable.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
