Redeemed

How to spell redeemed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce redeemed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does redeemed mean?

1. verbMade something acceptable or good again by compensating for its faults.
2. verbExchanged a voucher, coupon, or points for goods or services.
3. verbBought back or paid off something previously pledged, borrowed, or issued.

Redeemed in a sentence

• Her honest apology redeemed an otherwise dreadful evening.

• She redeemed the gift voucher just before it expired.

• The company redeemed its bonds well ahead of the maturity date.

• The late winning goal redeemed a sluggish team performance.

• He redeemed his loyalty points for a free flight.

• She finally redeemed the watch she had left at the pawnbroker.

Where does redeemed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of redeem, which descends from the Latin verb redimere, meaning 'to buy back'. That verb was built from red-, a form of the prefix re- meaning 'back' or 'again', and emere, meaning 'to buy' or 'to take'; the very same emere underlies English words such as 'exempt' and 'premium'. English took the word in the 1400s through Old French redimer, at first in the financial and religious senses of buying back a pledge or freeing a soul from sin. Over time the meaning broadened to cover making up for a fault or compensating for something poor. The double 'e' in the modern spelling preserves the long vowel of the stressed syllable, and it is worth remembering that the word keeps a single 'd' from red- before the 'eem', not a doubled one.

How the word is built

• red- (back)
• -eem (from Latin emere: to buy)
• -ed (past tense)