Reinvent
//ɹiːɪnˈvɛnt// verb
verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To invent again something that has already been invented. transitive
"A narrative circulates at Mitchell, Hall about a naive young employee who, in his eagerness to be creative, "reinvents the wheel," devoting so many hours reformulating work that has already been done that he drives himself into a nervous breakdown."
- 2 create anew and make over wordnet
- 3 To adapt into a different form; to give a new style or image to. transitive
"He had the ability to reinvent himself as needed."
- 4 bring back into existence wordnet
Example
More examples"There is a saying, that "Those who don't understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it, poorly". If one looks at the Linux desktop, one will realise, that it's also true for desktop operating systems."
Etymology
From re- + invent.
Related phrases
More for "reinvent"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.