rewild

[ree-wahyld]

verb (used with object)

to introduce (animals or plants) to their original habitat or to a habitat similar to their natural one: proposals to rewild elephants to the American plains.

to return (land) to a more natural state: rewilding an unpopulated island for use as an animal preserve.

verb (used without object)

to introduce living organisms to a habitat.

to return land to a less developed state.

Origin of rewild

First recorded in 1980–85; re- + wild

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for rewilding

rewilding

noun

the practice of returning areas of land to a wild state, including the reintroduction of animal species that are no longer naturally found there

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012