RE-


Meaning of RE- in English

■ prefix

1》 once more; afresh; anew: reactivate.

↘with return to a previous state: restore.

2》 (also red- ) in return; mutually: resemble.

↘in opposition: repel.

3》 behind or after: relic.

↘in a withdrawn state: reticent.

↘back and away; down: recede.

4》 with frequentative or intensive force: resound.

5》 with negative force: recant.

Origin

from L. ~ , red- 'again, back'.

Usage

Words formed with ~ tend to be unhyphenated: restore , reacquaint . An exception to this occurs when the word to which ~ attaches begins with e , in which case a hyphen is often inserted for clarity: ~examine , ~enter . A hyphen is sometimes also used where the word formed with the prefix would be identical to an already existing word: ~cover (meaning ‘cover again’) not recover (meaning ‘get better in health’).

Concise Oxford English vocab.      Сжатый оксфордский словарь английского языка.