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Revamp

verbTo improve or modernise something by reworking and refreshing it.

How to spell revamp

revamp

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce revamp

American pronunciation
ree-VAMP
/riˈvæmp/

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What does revamp mean?

  1. verbTo improve or modernise something by reworking and refreshing it.
  2. nounA reworking or modernisation that improves something.

Revamp in a sentence

Voice

Where does revamp come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built from the prefix re-, meaning 'again', and 'vamp', a noun that originally named the front part of a shoe or boot, the section covering the toes and instep. Vamp entered English in the 1200s from the Old French avantpié, a compound of avant 'before, in front' and pié 'foot', so it literally meant the 'fore-foot' of footwear. Cobblers used the verb 'to vamp' for fitting a new front onto a worn shoe, in other words patching up something old to make it serviceable again. By the 1800s 'revamp' generalised this idea of mending and refreshing into the broad sense of overhauling or modernising anything, from a building to a company logo. The spelling is regular once you see it as re- plus vamp, with the surprising twist that the everyday business word for a makeover began life on a workshop bench mending shoes.

How the word is built

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