rework
Americanverb (used with object)
-
reworks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reworked,
past participle, past
-
rewrought,
past participle (Archaic)
-
reworking
present participle
-
to work or form again.
to rework gold.
-
to revise or rewrite.
to rework an essay.
-
to process again or anew for reuse.
to rework wool.
noun
verb
-
to use again in altered form
the theme has been reworked in countless well-known poems
-
to rewrite or revise
-
to reprocess for use again
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
reworksimple
-
reworkssimple
-
have reworkedperfect
-
have rewroughtperfect
-
has reworkedperfect
-
has rewroughtperfect
-
am reworkingprogressive
-
are reworkingprogressive
-
is reworkingprogressive
-
have been reworkingperfect progressive
-
has been reworkingperfect progressive
Past
-
reworkedsimple
-
had reworkedperfect
-
had rewroughtperfect
-
was reworkingprogressive
-
were reworkingprogressive
-
had been reworkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rework
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:
Ford was able to fix the issue with a sealer, and made the change early enough in the design process to avoid a costly rework.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Now, as the burger chain prepares to rework that menu starting Tuesday with even cheaper options, including some for under $3, some see the move as a strength.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
I try to go early and can always find art or furniture to rework and give new life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
To rework Karl Marx’s famous maxim, sometimes historical events can be tragedy and farce at the same time, and repeat themselves in the same register.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
I try to work and rework the problem in my brain—never write anything down—until Mr. Stoker collects the papers.
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
A Workday study from January, meanwhile, showed that of the seven hours gained each week from AI productivity, nearly three were given back by corrections and reworks.
From Barron's ● May 7, 2026
And in the long run, as the company reworks its manufacturing processes, the company says the new diaper may end up being cheaper to make than older models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
This includes contributing guitar on the sizzling new Duran Duran single "Black Moonlight," a collaboration with Nile Rodgers that sounds like a stone-cold disco-funk classic, and on reworks of several older Duran Duran tracks.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2023
Badu reworks Drake’s “Hotline Bling” to fit her own singular personality on this centerpiece from her 2015 mixtape “But You Caint Use My Phone.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2023
It is but the man that dies, the Universal Whole of which he is part reworks him into its inmost self.
From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner
The lyrics were reworked for the soundtrack to her 1992 romantic comedy film, Straight Talk.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The scans revealed multiple layers of paint and reworked areas, including Mai’s hand placement and head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
There are repeated gags about Allie’s job singing covers of popular songs reworked for pharmaceutical companies and almost too many celebrity cameos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The company last month closed its acquisition of the AI cybersecurity company Portkey and reworked CyberArk, which it acquired last summer, as Idira — an identity security service focused on AI agents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
In Tannhauser, Lohengrin and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg he reworked ancient legend-fables so that his contemporaries would be uplifted by the chivalric pride inherent in the tales.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Striking, also, was the effect of this idea as rewrought by the early Ionian philosophers, to whom it was probably transmitted from the Chaldeans through the Phoenicians.
From History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by Andrew Dickson White
Society shall yet be rewrought and born again.
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
This reworking of Rein Me In, from Fender's third studio album, the Mercury Prize-winning People Watching, features an extra verse about the breakdown of a relationship from a female perspective, from Dean.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"As we stand on the edge of our 250th year of independence, I am thrilled to declare that America is back," Trump said, reworking a familiar rallying cry.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Custer learned to be patient, sometimes reworking her instructions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Companies are in the early days of reworking operations around AI, and much about the technology’s long-term impact on jobs isn’t fully known.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
I keep reworking them, reclasping, but it still feels awkward.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
