Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "retool" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "retool" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
After choosing a replacement for "retool", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "retool" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
3 total sentences available.
We’ve got to retool our system so that modern families and modern businesses can thrive. And let me be clear, this is not about big government, or expanding some fictional welfare-and-food-stamp state, the 47 percent mooching off the government. It is accounting for the realities of how people live now, today -- the necessities of a 21st century economy.
Source: tatoeba (5215453)
He decided it was time to retool last year's marketing brochure.
Source: wiktionary
The coronation of a British ruler is, of course, a political ritual and a religious ceremony. But it is also, as the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 established, a TV show. It’s an anachronistic assertion of divine right retooled to recognize that, in the electronic era, even hereditary rulers have to argue their relevance.
Source: wiktionary
Closest matches include demobilizes, dramatically alter, equipment upgrade, flintlocks, industrial change process.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.