reinterpret

reinterpret verb: to interpret again.

Verb

reinterpret (third-person singular simple present reinterprets, present participle reinterpreting, simple past and past participle reinterpreted)

(transitive) To interpret again.
- If you look at it that way, you can reinterpret all the old evidence so that it supports the new theory.
- On a recent morning, which started by stirring a pot and ended with pouring a drink, Mr. Alexander offered his ideas on rye’s resurgence, reinterpreting the classics and creating the perfect winter cocktail.2010 December 25, Meribah Knight, “Bartender, I’d Like a Classic, or Maybe a Specialty Drink”, in The New York Times

How should we reinterpret the universal service obligation for the superhighway?
Like streetwise residents in underpoliced neighborhoods, copwise individuals learn to reinterpret the mundane scenarios, spaces, and people found in the neighborhood.
It has thus been recycled and hermeneutically reinterpreted to accommodate the unconscious content and symbolic needs of the more modern age.

third-person singular present	reinterprets
present participle	reinterpreting
past participle	reinterpreted
past	reinterpreted

From re- + interpret.

What does reinterpret mean?: Reinterpret means to interpret again.
What part of speech is reinterpret?: Reinterpret is a verb.
What is the past tense of reinterpret?: The past tense of reinterpret is reinterpreted.

Adapted from Wiktionary: reinterpret (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reinterpret.ogg.

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