Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💥 A new tear 💥 To tear again
to retear

to retear

7.0
To rip something again after it was fixed or healed
  • verb
  • /ˌriːˈtɪr/
translation icon : retear
  • After surgery, he was worried that he might retear his knee ligament during rehabilitation.

Examples

  • The doctor advised him to take it easy to avoid the risk of retearing the repaired tissue.

  • The fact that patients on workers' compensation were six times more likely to retear supports the latter since this outcome is objective and is unlikely to be influenced by patient or clinician bias.

    Academic text (2017)

  • She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, fearing she might retear the muscle she had previously injured.

Synonyms

to reinjure
vsto retear
2 4.0

To hurt the same body part again after it was already hurt

damages a repaired area by ripping tissue again after full healing

Antonyms

to repair
365 1.0

To fix something that is broken or not working

Surface Forms

retear infinitive
retearing present participle
retears third person singular
retore past
retorn past participle

Morphology

retear = tear (transparent) = re + tear

This is a standard and fully compositional use of 're-' meaning 'again' added to the verb 'tear'.

Etymology

Retear as a verb comes from re- 'again' plus tear 'to rip', just like in repeat where re- means 'again'. It means to rip or damage something again after it was fixed or healed.