Skip to main content
to reflood

to reflood

1 5.0
To let water into an area again after it was drained or dried
  • verb
  • /rɪˈflʌd/
: volver a inundar
  • After the construction was completed, officials decided to reflood the wetlands to restore the natural habitat.

Examples

  • But when rain is so infrequent that the little temporary pools dry up, gravid females carry their eggs until heavy rains reflood the sites.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Fifty percent of the marshes have been reflooded, and the former inhabitants, who had been forcibly relocated, are returning.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Supply roads were cut through the marshes, and large tracts were dried and then reflooded for strategic purposes, as Saddam's army blocked Iranian advances and hunted political enemies and weapons smugglers.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The heavy rains were expected to reflood the areas that were previously drained.

  • The plan to reflood the basin was announced to help improve the local ecosystem.

Synonyms

to flood
vsto reflood
126 2.1

To fill a place with more things than it can handle

applies this filling action again after the area was drained or dried
to inundate
vsto reflood
35 6.8

To cover a place with water or give someone too much to deal with

repeats that covering by water after an area was drained
to deluge
vsto reflood
2 6.0

To cover an area with water

does the same again after the place has been dried or emptied

Antonyms

55 2.4

To become dry or make something no longer wet

2 1.4

The act of letting liquid flow out

How Flooded

to deluge
2 6.0
to inundate
35 6.8
to submerge
23 3.9
to reflood
1 5.0
to soak
196 1.0
wet
16 1.0

Surface Forms

reflood infinitive
reflooded past
reflooded past participle
reflooding present participle
refloods third person singular

Morphology

reflood = flood (transparent) = re + flood

The meaning is a straightforward repetition of the action 'flood', so learners who know 'flood' can readily infer 'flood again'.

Etymology

Reflood is formed from re- meaning 'again' and flood meaning 'to fill with water'. So, reflood means to fill an area with water again after it was drained or dried, like when a canal or basement floods a second time.