See also: re-create

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English recreate, from the participle stem of Latin recreāre (to restore), from re- (re-) + creāre (to create).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɛkɹɪeɪt/
    • (file)

Verb edit

recreate (third-person singular simple present recreates, present participle recreating, simple past and past participle recreated)

  1. (transitive) To give new life, energy or encouragement (to); to refresh, enliven.
    • 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, [], London: [] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, [], →OCLC:
      Painters, when they work on white grounds, place before them colours mixed with blue and green, to recreate their eyes, white wearying [] the sight more than any.
    • 1688, Henry More, Divine Dialogues:
      These ripe fruit [] recreate the nostrils with their aromatick scent.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:
      Odoraments to smell to, of rose-water, violet flowers, balm, rose-cakes, vinegar, etc., do much recreate the brains and spirits []
  2. (reflexive) To enjoy or entertain oneself.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], chapter II, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition ii, section 3:
      In Italy, though they bide in cities in winter, which is more gentlemanlike, all the summer they come abroad to their country-houses, to recreate themselves.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. [], 2nd edition, London: [] Francis Ashe [], →OCLC:
      St. John, who recreated himself with sporting with a tame partridge
  3. (intransitive) To take recreation.
    • 2004, Forbes, volume 173, numbers 4-9, page 156:
      Phonecams are proliferating like mad, their tiny eyes fuzzily probing so many corners of public and private life that they have begun to alter how people communicate and recreate.
Synonyms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

re- +‎ create

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ɹiːkɹɪˈeɪt/
    • (file)

Verb edit

recreate (third-person singular simple present recreates, present participle recreating, simple past and past participle recreated)

  1. To create anew.
Translations edit

Latin edit

Verb edit

recreāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of recreō

Spanish edit

Verb edit

recreate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of recrear combined with te