regroup

Etymology

It is formed from English re- (“again”) + group.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb group comes from the noun, which is from French groupe (“cluster, group”), from Italian gruppo (“group, knot”), which probably goes back to Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“round mass, lump”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To group again or differently, to form into new groups (transitive): 1845, in The Times.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1838,^[3] and Dictionary.com and the Shorter Oxford to the late 19th century.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

From early on the transitive verb was used especially of reassembling a military force.^[2] The intransitive use, of troops reassembling into an effective formation after an attack or before a new phase, is recorded from before 1944, in Keith Douglas's Alamein to Zem Zem.^[2][4] A figurative sense followed in American speech: Green's Dictionary of Slang records regroup "to recover from a shock" in 1966, in black and campus slang, and "to get oneself together" in 1971;^[7] the OED's first record of the sense "to recover from a setback, collect one's thoughts" is from 1968.^[2] Merriam-Webster also records the arithmetic use, rewriting a number in other units in order to subtract.^[4] The noun regroupment appeared in the early 20th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1845 – to group again or differently.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1838.^[3]
• before 1944 – intransitive, of troops, to reassemble into an organized force.^[2]
• early 20th century – the noun regroupment.^[5]
• 1966 – to recover from a shock or setback, in US slang.^[7] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1968.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To arrange in a new grouping or groupings: The librarian regrouped the books by subject.^[8][4][9][2]
2. To reorganize or reassemble (military forces), especially after an attack or a defeat or before a new phase of an operation.^{[4][9][10][8]}
3. To come together again as a group; of troops, to re-form in a tactical formation.^[8][2][10]
4. To recover from a setback, gather one's thoughts or strength, and consider new tactics.^[2][9][8][7]
5. (arithmetic) To rewrite a number in different units in order to subtract, for example 64 as 5 tens and 14 ones.^[4]

Word family

• regroupment

Related words

• group

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press