retread
Americanverb (used with object)
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retreads,
present (3rd person singular)
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retreaded,
past participle, past
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retreading
present participle
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:
But, oh, how easy the curse’s persistence makes it to retread all those familiar plot beats, the same ones that have been removed from their context and posted to death for the last decade.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Remember, it isn’t supposed to be a retread, e.g. put one shoe you’re wearing home in the hotel safe so you don’t forget your passport and other valuables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 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
Why you should let it fade: Not even Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson returning for cameo spots will make this installment feel like much more than a bow-slinging retread.
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2026
Napoleon, irritated at this, acrimoniously replied, that "he liked simple plans, less circuitous routes, high roads, the road by which he had come, yet he would not retread it but with peace."
From History of the Expedition to Russia Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 by Philippe-Paul, comte de Ségur
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
Musty retreads of Ibsen and Chekhov, besides being counter to the maverick spirit of their play, can be soporific endurance tests.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
In an era of seemingly endless retreads on both stage and screen, seeing a truly original work in an uncommon style is an undeniable treat.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
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
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 John Dewey
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 J. E. (James Edmund) Vincent
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
Each new book, though retreading familiar ground, reveals new layers to Louis’ redemptive insight and vision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2022
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.
