Other Word Forms
- reexaminable adjective
- reexamination noun
- reexaminer noun
Etymology
Origin of reexamine
Explanation
To reexamine something is to consider or inspect it again. A detective might need to go back and reexamine the scene of a crime several times during her investigation. A scientist who's studying an unfamiliar bacteria will examine it, and then reexamine it again and again. And, if you still have an earache a week after starting antibiotics, your doctor may want to reexamine you. Whenever you take another careful look at something, you reexamine it. The verb reexamine adds the "again" prefix re- to examine, from the Latin examinare, "to test, try, consider, or ponder."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If the discussion sparked by Anthropic’s CEO and other AI pioneers leads scientists and the public to reexamine longstanding assumptions about mind and awareness, it may mark the beginning of a much broader intellectual shift.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
In 2024, the long-lost specimens were finally located, allowing researchers to reexamine these puzzling marine amphibians with modern techniques.
From Science Daily • Feb. 25, 2026
The current rescheduling push dates back to October of 2022, when former President Joe Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to reexamine cannabis’s scheduling status.
From Salon • Feb. 6, 2026
The album remained undisturbed in the Alkazi Foundation's collections until its curator and two historians from Duke University began to reexamine it in 2019.
From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025
I want to reexamine the van Daans and decide for myself what’s true and what’s been blown out of proportion.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.