readjust
Americanverb (used with object)
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readjusts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
readjusted,
past participle, past
-
readjusting
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
readjustsimple
-
readjustssimple
-
have readjustedperfect
-
has readjustedperfect
-
am readjustingprogressive
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are readjustingprogressive
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is readjustingprogressive
-
have been readjustingperfect progressive
-
has been readjustingperfect progressive
Past
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readjustedsimple
-
had readjustedperfect
-
was readjustingprogressive
-
were readjustingprogressive
-
had been readjustingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of readjust
Explanation
You could readjust your TV antenna, your thinking, or the collar of your shirt. Whatever it is, when you readjust something, you make slight changes again and again until you get it right. When you adjust something, you make a change in order to improve something, such as a driver adjusting the side-view mirror on a car in order to see other cars better. So, when you add the prefix re-, it means "to adjust over and over." In the case of the mirror, you would readjust its angle until you can see perfectly well from your seat in the car.
Vocabulary lists containing readjust
Power Prefix: re-
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: re-
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Power Prefix: Re-
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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.
See Examples For:
Jon Long, a chip shop owner in Wimborne, Dorset, charges just over that and said he has had to readjust prices but is "looking at revisiting portion sizes."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
After that there would be new rounds of negotiations to readjust cuts every two years.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
As for Contreras, he is scheduled to start again for Blessed Trinity next Tuesday, leaving him in the unusual position of needing to readjust to regular old high-school baseball after pitching against MLB All-Stars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
If that happens, investors must buy the stock at those put strikes, or readjust the position with some trading.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025
He puts an arm around my waist and slips the other one under my knees to readjust me so he’s cradling me like a baby.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Here are some of the things to watch as the oil market readjusts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Strategic petroleum reserves designed to calm markets after a major supply shock may remain unused because the market calms and readjusts on its own.
From Barron's ● Nov. 20, 2025
The little help he’s able to offer when he readjusts a fallen flag makes his day.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2024
As he readjusts his pyjamas, his left hand reveals three missing fingers.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2023
Auguste's mother, Duchesse Georgiana, readjusts the crown on Charlotte's head and admires the glittering scepter in her lap.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
After Thursday’s labor print came in weaker than expected, traders readjusted their Fed forecasts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
By the time they finally readjusted, and dropped deeper in the second half, the damage had been done, as Match of the Day pundit Thomas Hitzlsperger noted.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
“It was a found object that we readjusted to our purposes, kind of like the character,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024
But with Fain’s election and the new contracts, the union has “cured or readjusted all of that rhetoric,” Wheaton said.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
Ethan readjusted his sword belt and headed into the warehouse.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
The market might not be imploding so much as readjusting as the tech industry succumbs to more realistic expectations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Investors are readjusting their risk budget right now in a risk-off mood on Friday, and that the AI momentum is now becoming AI anxiety,” said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
Current economic policymakers could "hardly guide the work of readjusting the country's industry as a whole and upgrading it technologically", Kim warned.
From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026
It releases the Black online community from the stress of the interloping gaze from non-Black users, readjusting the idea of what Black performativity is online.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2023
“You’re a mess,” she mutters, readjusting the faded purple faja around my waist and then, in frustration, unwrapping the entire wide ribbon.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
