rework

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + work,^[2][3][4][5] the prefix meaning "again".^[3] The OED compares the earlier noun reworking and the older verb unwork.^[2] The noun is a conversion of the verb, at first modelled on the noun work.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To work something again, especially to change it by further effort: first recorded in 1645, in A. Ross's Philosophicall Touch-stone.^[2] The other dictionaries date the verb much later: Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1728,^[4] Etymonline and the 1989 edition of the OED to 1842,^[3][6] and Dictionary.com to 1835–45.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense "to work again", the verb was applied from 1837 to literary and artistic works, for revising, rewriting or adapting them,^[2] the sense in which a theme or a legend is "reworked".^[8][4] Geologists used it from 1866 for a natural agent that alters a deposit, for example by removing and redepositing it,^[2][6] and gardeners from 1903 for changing the variety of a fruit tree by grafting.^[2][6] Merriam-Webster also records the reprocessing of used or discarded material for further use.^[4][9] The noun followed in 1878, meaning further or new work; since 1906 it has also meant an adaptation or updated version of a work, a remake.^[2]

Timeline

• 1645 – verb, to work something again, to change it by further effort.^[2]
• 1837 – to revise, rewrite or adapt a literary or artistic work.^[2]
• 1866 – in geology, of a natural agent, to alter a deposit.^[2]
• 1878 – noun, additional or new work.^[2]
• 1903 – in horticulture, to change the variety of a tree by grafting.^[2]
• 1906 – noun, an adaptation or updated version of a work.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To revise or rewrite something, or to use it again in a changed form: The director reworked the old fairy tale for a modern audience.^[8][4][2]
2. To work something again or anew; to subject it to a further process.^[4][9][2]
3. To reprocess used or discarded material for further use.^[4][8]
4. (geology) Of a natural agent, to alter a deposit or sediment, as by moving it.^[2][4]

Noun

1. Something reworked; an adaptation or updated version of a work.^[2][9]
2. Further work done to correct or redo something.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin