redefine
Britishverb
Explanation
Redefine means to "give new meaning to." A really fantastic song might redefine what rock and roll can mean to people. A great muffin might redefine the idea of what a muffin can be. Technically, redefine means to define again or differently––to give a new meaning. As a basketball player, Michael Jordan redefined the jump shot––it became something much more common and much more aggressively taken. By turning the packaging design of Campbell's soup into paintings, Andy Warhol redefined art.
Vocabulary lists containing redefine
President Trump's Second State of the Union Address (2019)
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Should girls be allowed to join the boy scouts? 10 Vocab Words
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for March 4–March 10, 2023
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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.
“The Proud Family” — a groundbreaking animated series that helped redefine Black representation on TV — originally ran from 2001 to 2005, then returned for the “Louder and Prouder” reboot in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
Few vehicles have been more widely unloved and often ridiculed than Elon Musk’s attempt to radically redefine the venerable all-American pickup truck.
From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2026
"When you connect genetic data with detailed clinical information across large populations, you can start to redefine diseases in ways that directly impact patient care."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
The Duo, he said, is the "result of a series of remarkable innovations that we think will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Muldoon’s successor, Madame Elfrida Clagg, attempted to redefine ‘beings’ in the hope of creating closer ties with other magical creatures.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
