What does reanimating mean?
Reanimating means bringing back to life, consciousness, or active use something that has become dead, unresponsive, or inactive. The word is commonly used in medical or rescue contexts, as when medical personnel attempt to reanimate a patient or a team works to reanimate an injured animal. It can also be used figuratively for efforts to revive an economy, project, organization, or public interest that has stalled or declined. Compared with 'revive', 'reanimate' often suggests a more technical, deliberate, or difficult restoration, especially in medicine. Its stronger associations with life and death make it memorable, while its figurative uses convey the idea of renewal and renewed energy.
verbReanimating is the present participle of reanimate: restoring life, consciousness, or activity to something that was dead, inactive, or in decline.
- Restoring life or consciousness to a person, animal, or organism.
- Reviving activity, interest, or progress that has stopped or declined.
"The rescue team spent the night reanimating the injured bird."
"The doctors worked for hours to reanimate the patient."
"The new investment helped reanimate the struggling local economy."
Reanimating turns something that has become still, exhausted, or apparently dead back into something alive and active.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does reanimating come from?
The word combines the Latin prefix re-, meaning 'again' or 'back', with animate, from Latin animare, 'to give life to'. The development of reanimate follows the pattern of many English verbs in which re- indicates that an earlier condition is being restored. Related English forms include animate, animation, and animator, all sharing the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How reanimating is actually used
In medical contexts, 'reanimate' usually means restoring bodily function or consciousness and is more formal and technical than the everyday verb 'revive'. In figurative use, it often describes renewing something that had become inactive or had suffered a serious decline.