Reinforced

How to spell reinforced

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reinforced

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reinforced mean?

1. verbStrengthened or supported something, or confirmed an idea or behaviour more firmly.
2. adjectiveMade stronger by adding extra material or support.

Reinforced in a sentence

• verb

  The builders reinforced the sagging beam with a steel plate.

• adjective

  The bridge deck rests on reinforced concrete columns.

• verb

  The manager reinforced the new policy by repeating it at every meeting.

• adjective

  The hikers wore boots with reinforced toecaps.

Where does reinforced come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends ultimately from the Latin adjective fortis, meaning 'strong', which gave Old French its noun force for physical strength or power. From there French built renforcer, combining re- 'again' with en- 'in' and force, so the literal idea was to put strength back into something. English borrowed and reshaped this in the early 1600s as 'reinforce', meaning to strengthen or support with fresh material or extra troops; the past tense 'reinforced' simply adds the regular -ed ending. The spelling trap lives in the seam between the prefixes: the silent stretch 're-in-' is unstressed and easy to clip, and writers sometimes drop a letter or muddle the order. Keeping the parts visible (re + in + force) is the surest guard against misspelling it.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• in- (into)
• force (strength, from Latin fortis 'strong')
• -ed (past tense/participle)