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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

recover.

To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal).

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪˈkʌvə/British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard/ɹɪˈkʊvə/Midlands, Northern-England/ɹɪˈkəvə/Wales/ɹɪˈkʌvəɾ/Scotland
  1. To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal).

    transitive
    After days of inquiries, he finally recovered his lost wallet.
    For days telescopes surveyed the skies to recover the small asteroid.
  2. To salvage, to extricate, to rescue (a thing or person).

    transitive
    They recovered three of the explorers very much alive, then another, wracked with severe hypothermia, who was taken to hospital.
  3. To replenish to, resume (a good state of mind or body).

    transitive
    At the top of the hill I asked to stop for a few minutes to recover my strength.
  4. To obtain a positive judgement; to win in a lawsuit.

    intransitive
    The plaintiff recovered in his suit, being awarded declaratory relief and a clearing of his name.
  5. To gain as compensation or reparation, usually by formal legal process.

    transitive
    to recover damages in trespass; to recover debt and costs in a legal action or that is owing
    to recover lands in ejectment or common recovery
  6. To reach (a place), arrive at.

    obsolete · transitive
  7. To restore to good health, consciousness, life etc.

    archaic · transitive
  8. To make good by reparation; to make up for; to retrieve; to repair the loss or injury of.

    archaic · transitive
    to recover lost time
  9. To regain one's composure, balance etc.

    intransitive
    Spinning round, he caught a stone with his ankle, but recovered quickly before turning to face me.
  10. To get better, to regain health or prosperity.

    intransitive
    I was hurt, but I knew I’d recover, given time.
    Without calling in Business Recovery experts, the company saw trade and investor confidence recover sharply in the wake of the crisis.
  11. To recover from.

    archaic · transitive
    To the end of his days, he never fully recovered his daughter's death.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English recoveren, rekeveren, from Anglo-Norman recoverer and Old French recovrer, from Latin recuperāre, alternative form of reciperāre. Doublet of recuperate. The noun is from Middle English recover, from the verb.

noun/ɹɪˈkʌvə/British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard/ɹɪˈkʊvə/Midlands, Northern-England/ɹɪˈkəvə/Wales/ɹɪˈkʌvəɾ/Scotland
  1. Recovery.

    obsolete
  2. A position of holding a firearm during exercises, whereby the lock is at shoulder height and the sling facing out.

  3. The forward movement in rowing, after one stroke to take another (recovery).

    dated
Where this word comes from

From Middle English recoveren, rekeveren, from Anglo-Norman recoverer and Old French recovrer, from Latin recuperāre, alternative form of reciperāre. Doublet of recuperate. The noun is from Middle English recover, from the verb.

verb/ɹiːˈkʌvə/Received-Pronunciation/ɹiˈkʌvɚ/General-American
  1. To cover again.

  2. To add a new roof membrane or steep-slope covering over an existing one.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Latin operiō Latin cooperiō Old French covrirbor. Middle English coveren English cover English recover From re- + cover.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.