remodel

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + model, from the prefix meaning "again" and the verb model.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb model, to fashion a figure in clay or wax, is recorded from the 1660s and comes from the noun,^[3] which is from Middle French modelle, from Italian modello, from Vulgar Latin *modellus, from Latin modulus (“a small measure, standard”), a diminutive of modus (“manner, measure”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To model again, to change the form or structure of something: 1660, in G. Mackenzie's Aretina.^[2][7] The OED revised the date in 2009; its 1989 edition, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gave 1789,^[8][3][9] and the Shorter Oxford dates the verb to the late 18th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The 1989 edition of the OED noted that the verb was common in the 19th century.^[8] Its general sense, changing the form of an institution or object, narrowed in later use to updating or restyling a building or room, often by extensive work.^[2][10] A noun followed, first for an act or process of remodelling (1833) and then, chiefly in architecture, for a building that has been remodelled (1956);^[2][10][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels the noun American.^[10] In American car-repair slang, to remodel a vehicle is to damage it badly.^[11]

Timeline

• 1660 – to model again; to change the form or structure of something.^[2][7]
• 1833 – noun, an act or process of remodelling.^[2][10]
• 1956 – noun, a building or room that has been extensively altered.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To change the structure, shape or look of something, especially a building or room, so as to renovate or update it: They remodeled the attic into a guest room.^[10][12][13]
2. To model again in clay, wax or a similar material; to remould.^[12][2]
3. (slang, US) Of a car, to damage it badly.^[11]

Noun

1. A project or process of remodelling something, such as a house or kitchen.^[10][2]
2. Something that has been remodelled, especially a building.^[12][2][4]

Word family

• remodeler
• remodeller

Related words

• model
• modulus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin