Meaning & use
reknit
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To knit something again, such as a sweater or a section that came undone.
Grammar: Takes an object: she reknit the sleeve.
Patterns
- reknit something
She reknit the sleeve after the pattern went wrong.
He reknitted the scarf in a thicker wool.
I had to reknit the whole hat because it was too small.
verbintransitivemedical
To grow back together after a break; used for bones and tissue that heal.
Grammar: No object: the bone reknit slowly.
Patterns
- something reknits
The broken bone reknit within two months.
Doctors expect the torn tissue to reknit by summer.
It takes time for the fracture to reknit properly.
verbtransitive or intransitivefigurative
To bring people or things back together after a division, so that they are close and united again.
Grammar: A community can reknit itself, or a community can reknit.
Patterns
- reknit something
- reknit with someone
The festival helped reknit the divided town.
Their friendship reknit after years of silence.
The leaders tried to reknit the party before the election.
Word forms
| third person singular | reknits |
|---|---|
| past tense | reknit / reknitted |
| past participle | reknit / reknitted |
| -ing form | reknitting |
Common combinations
- reknit a sweater
- She reknit a sweater for her nephew.
- bone reknits
- The bone should reknit in about six weeks.
- reknit the community
- The new park helped reknit the community.
- reknit relationships
- They hoped time would reknit their relationships.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mend
- Mend is more general and works for any repair, while reknit suggests threads or tissue joining again.
- heal
- Heal is the usual everyday word for injuries, while reknit describes the physical joining of the parts.
- reunite
- Reunite focuses on people coming together again and does not suggest repair of a break.
- reconcile
- Reconcile is for ending a quarrel between people, whereas reknit can also describe a wider group growing close.
Opposites
Word family
- knit verb
- to make fabric from yarn with needles
- knitting noun
- the activity or product of knitting
- knitter noun
- a person who knits
- close-knit adjective
- bound closely together
Commonly confused: reknit or renew?
reknit vs renew
Renew means to make something new or extend it, while reknit means to join or knit together again.
Practice
The doctor said the broken bone should ____ in about six weeks.
Choose one answer.
Reknit fits because bones grow back together as they heal. Relent means to give in, which cannot describe a bone.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “reknit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.