Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To bring back to life or consciousness; resuscitate.
  • intransitive verb To give new health, strength, or spirit to.
  • intransitive verb To restore to use, currency, activity, or notice.
  • intransitive verb To present (an old play, for example) again.
  • intransitive verb To renew in the mind; recall.
  • intransitive verb To return to life or consciousness.
  • intransitive verb To regain health, vigor, or good spirits.
  • intransitive verb To return to use, currency, activity, or notice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In physical geography, to rejuvenate; give renewed erosive action to by regional uplift: said of streams and rivers.
  • To return to life after actual or seeming death; resume vital functions or activities: as, to revive after a swoon.
  • To live again; have a second life.
  • To gain fresh life and vigor; be reanimated or quickened; recover strength, as after languor or depression.
  • To be renewed in the mind or memory: as, the memory of his wrongs revived within him; past emotions sometimes revive.
  • To regain use or currency; come into general use, practice, or acceptance, as after a period of neglect or disuse; become current once more.
  • In chem., to recover its natural or metallic state, as a metal.
  • To bring back to life; revivify; resuscitate after actual or seeming death or destruction; restore to a previous mode of existence.
  • To quicken; refresh; rouse from languor, depression, or discouragement.
  • To renew in the mind or memory; recall; reawaken.
  • To restore to use, practice, or general acceptance; make current, popular, or authoritative once more; recover from neglect or disuse: as, to revive a law or a custom.
  • To renovate.
  • To reproduce; represent after a lapse of time, especially upon the stage: as, to revive an old play.
  • In law, to reinstate, as an action or suit which has become abated. See revival
  • In chem., to restore or reduce to its natural state or to its metallic state: as, to revive a metal after calcination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To return to life; to recover life or strength; to live anew; to become reanimated or reinvigorated.
  • intransitive verb Hence, to recover from a state of oblivion, obscurity, neglect, or depression.
  • intransitive verb (Old Chem.) To recover its natural or metallic state, as a metal.
  • transitive verb To restore, or bring again to life; to reanimate.
  • transitive verb To raise from coma, languor, depression, or discouragement; to bring into action after a suspension.
  • transitive verb Hence, to recover from a state of neglect or disuse.
  • transitive verb To renew in the mind or memory; to bring to recollection; to recall attention to; to reawaken.
  • transitive verb (Old Chem.) To restore or reduce to its natural or metallic state.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To return to life; to recover life or strength; to live anew; to become reanimated or reinvigorated.
  • verb transitive To recover from a state of oblivion, obscurity, neglect, or depression; as, classical learning revived in the fifteenth century.
  • verb transitive To restore, or bring again to life; to reanimate.
  • verb transitive To raise from coma, languor, depression, or discouragement; to bring into action after a suspension.
  • verb transitive Hence, to recover from a state of neglect or disuse; as, to revive letters or learning.
  • verb To renew in the mind or memory; to bring to recollection; to recall attention to; to reawaken.
  • verb intransitive To recover its natural or metallic state, as a metal.
  • verb transitive To restore or reduce to its natural or metallic state

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb give new life or energy to
  • verb be brought back to life, consciousness, or strength
  • verb cause to regain consciousness
  • verb return to consciousness
  • verb restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English reviven, from Old French revivre, from Latin revīvere, to live again : re-, re- + vīvere, to live; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French revivre, Latin revivere; prefix re- re- + vivere to live. See vivid.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word revive.

Examples

  • The “further the world gets from the gulf war, the more it seems willing to let Mr. Hussein revive his deadly weapons projects.”

    Think Progress » The Intelligence Agencies Didn’t Get It Wrong, The Bush Administration Did 2006

  • This further is to be observed, concerning ideas lodged in the memory, and upon occasion revived by the mind, that they are not only (as the word revive imports) none of them new ones, but also that the mind takes notice of them as of a former impression, and renews its acquaintance with them, as with ideas it had known before.

    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 2007

  • This further is to be observed, concerning ideas lodged in the memory, and upon occasion revived by the mind, that they are not only (as the word revive imports) none of them new ones, but also that the mind takes notice of them as of a former impression, and renews its acquaintance with them, as with ideas it had known before.

    God, Aids & Circumcision Hill, George 2005

  • We are now having our winter snow, not indeed deep or heavy, or long lying, but more than we have had yet this season, and ice and frost that again revive my hope of getting the ice-house filled before the spring fairly comes, and we are left unprovided with what is here such an indispensable necessary of life, that we shall have to purchase it daily, if we have not our stored supply.

    Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters 1891

  • Now, hanging a few traitors will not kill slavery; and our danger is that slavery itself will slip through the noose, and that when it shall begin to revive from the shock, many who are now shouting "Hang the traitors," will take up the old familiar cry, "Hang the abolitionists."

    Abraham Lincoln; His Life and Its Lessons 1865

  • It was some time since Jerry had spoken a word of German, but as she stood before Gretchen's picture old memories seemed to revive, and with them the German word for _pretty_, which she involuntarily spoke aloud.

    Tracy Park Mary Jane Holmes 1866

  • Could textspeak in Irish revive interest in the language?

    RTÉ News 2009

  • Could textspeak in Irish revive interest in the language?

    RTÉ News 2009

  • Could textspeak in Irish revive interest in the language?

    RTÉ News 2009

  • Could textspeak in Irish revive interest in the language?

    RTÉ News 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.