Meaning & use
restored
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“restored” is a form of “restore”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Repaired or cleaned so that something old looks and works as it did originally.
Grammar: Usually comes before the noun: a restored farmhouse; after be it is the past participle.
Patterns
- a restored something
- something is restored to something
They live in a beautifully restored Victorian house.
The restored painting now hangs in the main gallery.
He drives a restored 1965 Mustang.
verbtransitive
Past tense and past participle of restore: brought back a former condition, rule, feeling or situation.
Grammar: Takes an object: they restored power.
Patterns
- restored something to something
- restored something after something
Engineers restored power to the town within two hours.
The new manager restored order after the chaos.
Her faith in the system was restored by the fair verdict.
Word forms
| base form | restore |
|---|---|
| -ing form | restoring |
Common combinations
- lovingly restored
- The cottage has been lovingly restored.
- fully restored
- Service was fully restored by Monday.
- restored to health
- She was restored to health after a long illness.
- restored order
- Police restored order in the square.
- restored confidence
- The announcement restored confidence in the bank.
Synonyms and how they differ
- renovated
- Renovated is used mostly for buildings and may involve modern changes, whereas restored aims for the original look.
- repaired
- Repaired only means fixed, while restored suggests returning something to its earlier state.
- revived
- Revived is used for energy, interest or a custom coming back, not usually for repaired objects.
- refurbished
- Refurbished suggests cleaning and updating for resale, while restored focuses on authenticity.
Opposites
Word family
- restore verb
- to bring back to a former state
- restoration noun
- the act of restoring
- restorer noun
- a person who repairs old things
- restorative adjective
- giving back health or strength
Commonly confused: restored or returned?
restored vs returned
Returned means given back or sent back, while restored means repaired or brought back to an earlier condition.
Practice
After the flood, volunteers worked for months until the old library was fully ___.
Choose one answer.
Restored means repaired to its former condition. Removed or reduced would not describe fixing the library.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “restored”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.