Slang dictionary

retoast

[ree-tohst]

What does retoast mean?

A retoast is content (meme, picture, video, etc.) that has already been posted on social media. Retoasting is the action of posting, sharing, or linking to previously posted content.

Related words

copypasta, the cake is a lie, subreddit, updoot, dank meme

Where does retoast come from?

Getty Images

Retoast plays on repost and re-toast, or toasting a piece of bread again, such that it’s overdone. The term appears online as early as 2008 in the London Fixed-Gear and Single-Speed cycling forum, where a user comments “sorry if retoast” about a link to a Daily Mail article that may have already been shared.

The term spread to other online sites like Funnyjunk in 2009 and Twitter and Reddit in 2010. Especially on Reddit, the opposite of a retoast is OC (original content). By 2011, the construction “sorry if retoast” was an established convention before posting content that may already be old news to other internet users.

Examples of retoast

I don't even care, I love seeing this pic. Retoast away!!
wonzerelli (user), Reddit, November 2013
>Post OC tweet: no attention >Retoast something like #FF: everyone loves you >k.
@DltExe, January 2014
MemeCenter
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Who uses retoast?

Retoast is used on online forums or social media, both as a noun (a retoast) and verb (to retoast), though its currency appears to have dropped off around the mid-2010s.

It can be used to signal you’re not sure if a piece of content has been shared on the site before …

… or to indicate you are sharing some improved version of content you already posted …

… or simply want to re-share content because you enjoy it, even at the risk of seeming repetitive or annoying.

Just Added

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of retoast like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of retoast that will help our users expand their word mastery.