rehabilitate
verb
Simple meaning
To restore to their former state, reputation, possessions, status etc.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reehuhbiluhtaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹihəˈbɪləteɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To restore (someone) to their former state, reputation, possessions, status etc.
transitive
To vindicate; to restore the reputation or image of (a person, concept etc.).
transitivemedicine
To return (someone) to good health after illness, addiction, etc.
transitive
To return (something) to its original condition.
intransitive
To go through such a process; to recover.
Restore to a state of good condition or operation
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To restore (someone) to their former state, reputation, possessions, status etc.
Used this way, rehabilitate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use rehabilitate
- “Deng Xiao Ping was rehabilitated several times throughout his lifetime.”verb
- “The prisoner was successfully rehabilitated.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Designed to accomplish rehabilitation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.