reconstruct

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *ster- Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- Proto-Indo-European *strew- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *stréweti Proto-Italic *strowō Latin struō Latin cōnstruōder. Latin cōnstrūctusbor. English construct English reconstruct From re- + construct.

1. To construct again; to restore.

   “As it was necessary to reconstruct the culvert close to the original position, the hazards of tunnelling through clay in an unstable condition, due to the absorption of water, had to be reduced by the application of electro-osmosis to dry out the material.”

   “The greatest number of bridges requiring modification are overline bridges, and many methods are adopted in reconstructing and altering them to give increased clearances.”

2. To attempt to understand an event by recreating, imagining, or talking through the circumstances.

   “But reconstructing the scene among those silent walls in the precarious light, with the unforgotten ghosts of other crimes ready to emerge from every shadow, I can conceive that no more frightful spectre than this sombre being, dripping red from hands and face at every step, has ever walked.”