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resurface

/riˈsʌrfəs/
/riˈsʌfəs/
IPA guide

Other forms: resurfaced; resurfacing; resurfaces

To resurface is to cover something with a fresh coat, like to resurface a road with new asphalt. It also means to come back, like a problem you wanted to forget or a monster in a movie that won’t die.

You can resurface a birthday cake with another layer of frosting if you discover your brother has stuck his finger in the original buttercream. Another way to resurface is to emerge or appear again, sometimes above an actual surface, like when a dolphin dives under water and then resurfaces several minutes later. The dream you forgot when you woke up might also (figuratively) resurface later in the day.

Definitions of resurface
  1. verb
    cover with a new surface
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    type of:
    coat, surface
    put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface
  2. verb
    appear again
    “The missing man suddenly resurfaced in New York”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    re-emerge, reappear
    appear again
  3. verb
    reappear on the surface
    see moresee less
    type of:
    come up, rise, rise up, surface
    come to the surface
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