retelling
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of retelling
Explanation
A retelling is a new version of an old story. Somehow, your retelling of your dad's hilarious tale of catching a shoe instead of a fish is never quite as funny as his version. Retelling comes from the verb retell, or "tell again." You can use this word for literal retellings, when an anecdote is simply told all over again for the second (or third) time. It's also useful for updated versions of classic stories. The movie Clueless is a retelling of the Jane Austen novel Emma. And Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres is a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear.
Vocabulary lists containing retelling
Literary Terms, Grade 8, Units 2–3
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Conventions, Writing to Sources, and Speaking & Listening (Unit 1)
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Additional Literary Terms, Unit 5
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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.
In the retelling of the ancient historian’s chronicle of the fifth century B.C.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
The image remains inescapable for Parry as it reappears with every anniversary and retelling of the Aberfan disaster.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
Psychoanalysis, Mr. Phillips suggests, can support this pragmatist approach by helping us navigate that retelling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, ‘The Bride!’ is a bold retelling of ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, stepping up in ambition.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2026
As in some radical retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, society’s normally invisible workings had been made briefly visible.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
