Word.ws English Dictionary

re-tread

re-tread is the alternative form of retread.

Meaning of retread

Verb (1)

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past and past participle retreaded)

  1. To replace the traction-providing surface of a vehicle that employs tires, tracks or treads.
  2. (UK) To renew the tread of a tyre, providing a cheaper alternative to buying a new tyre, but potentially introducing a risk of premature failure if performed improperly.
    • There was no evidence to suggest that the fact that both tyres had been retreaded 3 times was a factor in the failure occurrence. This type of aircraft tyre (Type VII) is routinely retreaded 6 times or more before being taken out of service.1993 June, Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “1.12.13.6.3 Visual and Microscopic Examinations”, in McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, C-GMXQ, accident at King Abdulaziz...
    Synonyms:
    recap

Verb (2)

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past retrod, past participle retrodden)

  1. (transitive) To tread again, to walk along again, to follow a path again.
    • As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the...1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

See all 6 meanings of retread

Forms of re-tread

third-person singular presentre-treads
present participlere-treading
pastre-trod
past participlere-trodden

Questions about re-tread

What is re-tread the alternative form of?
Re-tread is the alternative form of retread.

Words near re-tread in the dictionary

  1. re-tipped
  2. re-tipping
  3. re-tips
  4. re-took
  5. re-tractioning
  6. re-tread
  7. re-treading
  8. re-treads
  9. re-treat
  10. re-treated
  11. re-treating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: re-tread (page history and authors); retread (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “re-tread.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/re-tread. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.