reanimate
verb
re·an·i·mate
(ˌ)rē-ˈa-nə-ˌmāt 
reanimated; reanimating; reanimates
: to animate or become animated again: such as
a
: to bring (someone or something) back to life or to come back to life
As the defrosting jellyfish seemed to reanimate under the faucet's running water, the restaurant's chef asked if he should salt the boiling water.—
Jason Horowitz
Jason Horowitz… Nathan would sit in the kitchen … watching Eleanor smoke cigarettes and squeeze lemons into her diet Coke, of which she drank sixty ounces a day—enough, as Major Ray often declared, to reanimate a dead body.—Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
b
: to regain vitality or to restore vigor and zest to (someone or something)
When she reanimates, the words just spill from her, small speedy bubbles sliding under and around each other …—Andrew Corsello
Andrew Corsello… serves to reanimate the old debates about the relationship between form and content …—Jed Perl
Jed Perl
reanimation
noun
plural reanimations
… discusses the post-Soviet decline, fall, and reanimation of the notorious Soviet secret police agency.
—Roland Green
Roland Green
This isn't just a captivating retelling; it's a creative reanimation of these indelible characters who are still breathing down our necks across the millennia.
—Ron Charles
Ron Charles
Examples of reanimate in a Sentence
the new multiplex has begun to reanimate the shabby neighborhood
Recent Examples on the Web
Bruni Tedeschi captures her in that vortex — her pulmonary illness confining her to bed one minute and her artistic drives reanimating her with defiant spirit the next.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025
The presence of citizen participation in legal decision-making encourages civic engagement, fosters public trust and reanimates the participatory ideals on which the American republic was founded.
—Richard Lorren Jolly, The Conversation, 5 Sep. 2025
As a young man, he gets kicked out of medical school for trying to reanimate a half-corpse pieced together from the parts of two deceased humans.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 30 Aug. 2025
In the first half of the new season, she's reanimated the dead, gained an invisible stalker, and lost a duel with her own mother.
—PC Magazine, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reanimate
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David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025
The presence of citizen participation in legal decision-making encourages civic engagement, fosters public trust and reanimates the participatory ideals on which the American republic was founded.
—Richard Lorren Jolly, The Conversation, 5 Sep. 2025
As a young man, he gets kicked out of medical school for trying to reanimate a half-corpse pieced together from the parts of two deceased humans.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 30 Aug. 2025
In the first half of the new season, she's reanimated the dead, gained an invisible stalker, and lost a duel with her own mother.
—PC Magazine, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reanimate
Cite this Entry
“Reanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reanimate. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
reanimate
transitive verb
re·an·i·mate
(ˈ)rē-ˈan-ə-ˌmāt
reanimated; reanimating
: to restore to life : revive
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