retrain
Americanverb (used with object)
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retrains,
present (3rd person singular)
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retrained,
past participle, past
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retraining
present participle
verb (used without object)
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retrains,
present (3rd person singular)
-
retrained,
past participle, past
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retraining
present participle
verb
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(tr) to teach (someone) a new skill so that he or she can do a job or find employment
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(intr) to learn a new skill with a view to doing a job or finding employment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retrainsimple
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retrainssimple
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have retrainedperfect
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has retrainedperfect
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am retrainingprogressive
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are retrainingprogressive
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is retrainingprogressive
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have been retrainingperfect progressive
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has been retrainingperfect progressive
Past
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retrainedsimple
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had retrainedperfect
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was retrainingprogressive
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were retrainingprogressive
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had been retrainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retrain
Explanation
To retrain is to teach (or to learn) all new information and skills. Once your dog retires from guarding sheep, you can retrain her to be a visiting therapy dog in nursing homes. When someone loses a job in one industry, a state employment agency can often help to retrain them for new kinds of work. A mill worker might retrain to be a computer programmer, for example. The verb retrain has the "again" prefix re- added to train, "to discipline or teach," a definition that grew out of the meaning "manipulate and shape," the way a gardener trains a vine to grow up an arbor.
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:
Unlike with open-source software, users can’t see the code used to train the model, nor can they retrain it themselves or add new data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
McDonald’s said it would work with franchisees to get them on board and would launch a program in October to retrain its U.S. restaurant crews.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
The race to retrain the workforce is already on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
He was the first fisherman to retrain as an environmental defender under a pioneering project to replenish the Caribbean coral ecosystem.
From Barron's ● May 7, 2026
Mr. Curtain had wanted to steal his memory, or wipe it away—or whatever it was that might be done to memories—and then retrain him as a Helper.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Aadil Qureshi, CEO of Heat Geek, which retrains heating engineers to install heat pumps, said it was the right decision and a refocus on green tech was better value for government money.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
“There is a subtle difference between a rule that retrains NIL compensation and a rule that limits one’s potential to negotiate a NIL agreement,” the judge wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025
Adecco, which supplies temporary staff and retrains workers as well as finding positions for highly skilled workers, proposed a dividend of 2.50 euros, the same level as in 2020.
From Reuters ● Feb. 24, 2022
“Epic proved at trial that Apple retrains trade...by contractually requiring developers to exclusively use Apple’s App Store to distribute apps and Apple’s IAP for payments for digital content within apps,” the filing reads.
From The Verge ● Jan. 20, 2022
A portraitist retrains his sights on his earlier, broader artistic goals, with sometimes magical results.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2018
Gong, a decade-old sales software company, retrained its workforce and recently surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue—a metric used by software companies that annualizes subscription revenue—growing over 55% year-over-year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Travelodge said staff were being retrained on security.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
“I’m hoping that the institute will change and that they’ve retrained the officers as to when they can use force, so this kind of stuff doesn’t happen.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2026
A former lawyer who had retrained as a baker at a trendy cafe in the Black Sea city, he joined the Ukrainian army a year later.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
And Larisa Rozanova was flying with Nadezhda “Nadya” Studilina, a new navigator who’d started the war as a gunner and had recently retrained.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
“You’re retraining the neuromuscular system,” Burbank says, adding that it could take three to six months to notice concrete improvement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
In its response to the government's consultation on a new AI and innovation strategy, it urged ministers to ensure workers are involved in decisions about automation and that employers invest in retraining.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
For the past three years, the French group's subsidiary has been funding and organising retraining programs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Meanwhile, the Austrian plant that’s home to Sony’s disc-making operations has already said it will be retraining its employees to craft microlenses for car lights, instead of for gaming hardware.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Long-term brainsweeping and retraining results mixed: Helpers manageable but still dispirited.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
