reclaim

/riˈkleɪm/

/rɪˈkleɪm/

Other forms: reclaimed; reclaiming; reclaims

To reclaim something is to get it back. If a divorced couple remarries, they reclaim their marriage.

To claim is to declare or take ownership of something. To reclaim is to retake something lost. An injured quarterback must reclaim the starting position from his replacement. Two countries fighting over territory may lose and reclaim an area of land. A bank can reclaim a house if you don't make mortgage payments. Reclaim comes from the Old French reclamer, "to call back," which is rooted in the Latin word reclamare, "cry out against, or appeal."

Definitions of reclaim

1. verb

   claim back
   synonyms: repossess

   types:

   distrain

   legally take something in place of a debt payment

   foreclose

   subject to foreclosing procedures; take away the right of mortgagors to redeem their mortgage

   type of:

   acquire, get

   come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
2. verb

   make useful again; transform from a useless or uncultivated state
   “The people reclaimed the marshes”

   type of:

   convert

   change the nature, purpose, or function of something
3. verb

   reuse (materials from waste products)
   synonyms: recover

   type of:

   recycle, reprocess, reuse

   use again after processing
4. verb

   bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one
   synonyms: rectify, reform, regenerate

   reform, see the light, straighten out

   change for the better

   types:

   moralise, moralize

   improve the morals of

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
5. verb

   overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable
   “reclaim falcons”

   synonyms: domesticate, domesticise, domesticize, tame

   domesticate, tame

   make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans

   types:

   break, break in

   make submissive, obedient, or useful

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation