retread
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
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a tire that has been retreaded.
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Slang. a person returned to active work after retirement, dismissal, etc.
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a person retrained for a new or more modern job or task.
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Informal. a repeating, reviving, or reworking of an old or familiar idea, presentation, story, etc., especially when unimaginative or hackneyed; rehash.
a boring retread of a classic movie.
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Slang. a person representing older or previous times, ideas, policies, etc., especially when they are deemed passé or tiresome.
verb
noun
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another word for remould
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informal a pensioner who has resumed employment, esp in a former profession
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a film, piece of music, etc, which is a superficially altered version of an earlier original
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retreadsimple
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retreadssimple
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have retreadedperfect
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has retreadedperfect
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am retreadingprogressive
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are retreadingprogressive
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is retreadingprogressive
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have been retreadingperfect progressive
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has been retreadingperfect progressive
Past
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retreadedsimple
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had retreadedperfect
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was retreadingprogressive
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were retreadingprogressive
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had been retreadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retread
Explanation
When you do the same thing again, or walk along the same path, you retread. You might love a writer's first book, but you'll still be disappointed if she only retreads the same plot in her second one. You can, quite literally, retread your steps through the woods to find the beautiful grove of ferns you saw yesterday. You can also figuratively retread: "That candidate just retreads the same points over and over again!" When a car mechanic uses this word, it means "put new treads on a tire," or as a noun, the new surface of the tire itself. During World War I, retread was Australian slang for a "re-enlisted soldier."
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:
Robert Icke’s “Oedipus” was hardly a retread of an ancient Greek classic and “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” may have hewed faithfully to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score, but everything else about this production seemed completely reborn.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Similarly, Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins said the plan unveiled on Thursday is “a retread of previously advocated-for positions and there is no legislative path forward for much of it, in our view.”
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 15, 2026
But what if what seemed a tired retread was actually poised on the cutting edge of televised entertainment?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Since it has, a 50th anniversary special is due on Sunday, Feb. 16 when one expects we'll retread some of the 40th's victory laps.
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2025
It is a foul sin to disturb them; but retread your devious way, and let her hear your coming footsteps, breaking down the briers, as you renew the danger.
From McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader by McGuffey, William Holmes
Movie industry watchers say their success shows that audiences are hungry for imaginative, unpredictable storytelling from fresh faces, rather than the big studios’ tired sequels and retreads.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
When played side-by-side with the originals, the new self-produced songs never sound like tired retreads but are powered by some contemporary fire in the band’s performances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2025
Despite some of its retreads, it will thrill new gamers to the genre looking to get deeply lost and lock themselves into a 50-hour odyssey of swords and sorcery.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 25, 2023
The Marilyn retreads they attacked should help us understand that more than almost any other artist, Warhol was willing to recognize how stuff that starts life looking like art can end it acting like currency.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
Comes a grown man from the rear somewhere; silently and with stately tread he walks across the long room to the cabinet, takes one teacup in each hand and retreads the space towards the back.
From Letters from China and Japan by Dewey, John
On the play, Beaty rounded third base aggressively and quickly retreaded back to the base — but after he appeared to make contact with third-base coach Vance Wilson.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
Vehicle owners can decide whether to have their used tyres repaired or regrooved or whether to buy new or retreaded replacements — if such services exist.
From Nature ● Mar. 22, 2016
In that new circumstance, leftovers don’t feel retreaded, but reframed.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2016
The seasonal offerings are both weird and familiar—the old and new mixed up, remixed, retreaded, mostly dreaded.
From Forbes ● Dec. 22, 2014
The front off-side Dunlop tire had been blown out of the rim, the cause being that it was a "retreaded" tire which had stretched until it was no longer held in its place.
From Through East Anglia in a Motor Car by Vincent, J. E. (James Edmund)
Some have classroom teachers and courses that give a preview of high school rather than retreading eighth grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026
A rebooted reboot also has to be hyper-avoidant of retreading the same territory as a franchise’s first reset, for fear of alienating skeptics even more, which is a move that can very easily backfire.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025
Pitchfork's Olivia Horn said Swift was "largely retreading old territory", an accusation echoed by Rolling Stone's Larisha Paul, who said the star was "going through the motions while running in place".
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2024
And ever since there’s a number of very different kinds of composers retreading these steps.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2019
Often on the way back, my tires retreading the path we’d driven, I looked over at the passenger seat.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
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.
