reconstruction
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the process of building something again after it has been damaged or destroyed.
the action or process of rebuilding something, typically a structure or an economy, after significant damage or decay.
Simple“The city began the reconstruction of the bridge immediately after the flood.”
In context“Post-war reconstruction required not only the physical rebuilding of infrastructure but also the complete overhaul of the nation's financial systems.”
UsageOften used with 'of' to indicate the object being rebuilt.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a description or model that shows how a past event or crime probably happened.
the recreation or retelling of a sequence of events, often used in legal or historical contexts to understand a specific outcome.
Simple“The police performed a reconstruction of the accident to see who was at fault.”
In context“Forensic experts provided a detailed reconstruction of the crime scene, using digital models to track the trajectory of the evidence.”
Synonymsreenactmentsimulation - 03 C1 Advanced
the period after the American Civil War when the country was being put back together.
the period (1865–1877) following the American Civil War focused on reorganizing the Southern states and integrating formerly enslaved people into society.
Simple“In history class, we studied the challenges faced by families during Reconstruction.”
In context“The failure of Reconstruction led to decades of systemic inequality that the civil rights movement would later seek to address.”
UsageUsually capitalized as 'Reconstruction' when referring to this specific historical era.
- 04 C2 Proficiency
a word or sound that experts believe existed in an old language, even if there are no written records of it.
a hypothetical model of an unattested linguistic unit, such as a phoneme or word, established through the comparative method.
Simple“The linguist shared a reconstruction of how the word for 'water' sounded thousands of years ago.”
In context“Proto-Indo-European reconstructions are marked with an asterisk to indicate they are theoretical forms rather than recorded data.”
UsageIn academic writing, these forms are conventionally preceded by an asterisk (*).
Synonymsproto form
“Post-earthquake reconstruction is expected to cost about $6.4bn, but Colombia has been hit by renewed US tariffs.”
“For Resident Coordinator in Colombia María José Torres Macho, reconstruction cannot simply mean replacing what was lost.”
A proper-noun variant of reconstruction.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.