Restart

How to spell restart

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce restart

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does restart mean?

1. verbTo start something again after it has stopped or paused.
2. nounA fresh beginning of something that had stopped or stalled.

Restart in a sentence

• verb

  The technician advised me to restart the laptop before installing the update.

• noun

  The project needed a complete restart after the budget collapsed.

• verb

  Heavy rain forced the crew to restart the road repairs from scratch.

• noun

  A quick restart usually clears the software glitch.

Where does restart come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a straightforward English compound formed by attaching the prefix re-, meaning 'again' or 'back', to the verb 'start'. The re- prefix came into English from Latin, where it carried the sense of repetition or return, and it has long been a productive way to build new English words. The base 'start' is native, descending from Old English styrtan, which originally meant to leap up or move suddenly, a sense still faintly visible when something 'starts' with a jolt. Over time 'start' broadened to mean 'to begin', and the prefixed form 'restart' simply means to begin again. Although it feels modern, the word grew far more common with mechanical engines and later with computers, where restarting a stalled machine became an everyday action.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• start (begin, set in motion)