Renewed

How to spell renewed

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce renewed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does renewed mean?

1. verbRestored, resumed, or extended the validity of something so that it continued or began afresh.
2. adjectiveGiven fresh strength, energy, or attention; resumed after a pause.

Renewed in a sentence

• verb

  She renewed her gym membership for another twelve months.

• adjective

  After the holiday she returned to work with renewed energy.

• verb

  The council renewed the contract after a brief review.

• adjective

  The report sparked renewed interest in the old case.

Where does renewed come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past form of the verb 'renew', which arose in Middle English as 'renewen', built by attaching the prefix 're-', meaning 'again', to the native adjective 'new' (Old English 'niwe', describing something fresh or recent). The formation was reinforced by the parallel Latin verb 'renovare', meaning 'to make new again', from 'novus' meaning 'new', the same root that gives us 'renovate' and 'innovation'. From the late 1300s 'renew' carried the sense of making something fresh, restoring it, or extending its term, and by simply adding '-ed' the language produced both the past tense and an adjective describing something given new life or freshly granted. Because the word is transparently 're' plus 'new' plus 'ed', its spelling rarely troubles writers; the only thing to watch is keeping the single 'n' that belongs to 'new' rather than doubling it.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• new (fresh, recent)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)