reheat
B1Neutral, common in everyday and culinary contexts.
Definition
Meaning
To heat (something, especially cooked food) again.
To restore or intensify warmth, energy, interest, or emotion in a situation, relationship, or discussion.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Implies a prior state of being heated and subsequently cooled or diminished. Most literal use is with food, but metaphorically extends to reviving old debates, passions, or rivalries.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No major syntactic or semantic differences. 'Microwave' is more commonly used as a verb synonym in American English ('I'll microwave the leftovers').
Connotations
Slightly more formal than 'warm up' or 'zap' (slang). In both dialects, reheated food can have a negative connotation of being less fresh.
Frequency
Equally common and understood in both varieties.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[Subject] reheat [Object][Subject] reheat [Object] [Prepositional Phrase: in/using something]Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “reheat old soup (to revive an old, uninteresting topic)”
- “a reheated argument”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Rare; could be used metaphorically: 'The merger talks have been reheated after months of silence.'
Academic
Rare in literal sense; used in historical/political analysis: 'The policy served to reheat Cold War tensions.'
Everyday
Very common, primarily for food: 'Just reheat the lasagna for four minutes.'
Technical
Used in thermodynamics, food science, and engineering (e.g., reheating cycles in turbines).
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- I'll reheat the stew on the hob.
- Could you reheat yesterday's rice for your lunch?
American English
- Just reheat the casserole in the microwave.
- They managed to reheat interest in the stalled project.
adverb
British English
- This sauce is best served freshly made, not reheatedly. (Rare/Non-standard)
American English
- (No standard adverbial form in use)
adjective
British English
- A reheat function is standard on most modern ovens.
- The reheat cycle took only two minutes.
American English
- Look for the reheat setting on the control panel.
- This is just a reheat of last week's news story.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- Please reheat my soup. It is cold.
- I reheat pizza for breakfast.
- You can reheat the leftovers in the microwave for two minutes.
- The chef does not recommend reheating fish as it dries out.
- To save time, she prepared and froze meals to reheat during the week.
- The journalist's article reheated the controversy surrounding the election.
- Attempts to reheat the peace talks proved futile due to lingering distrust.
- The technology uses a reheat stage to significantly improve the engine's thermodynamic efficiency.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of the prefix RE- (again) + HEAT. You HEAT it RE-peatedly.
Conceptual Metaphor
REVIVAL IS REHEATING (e.g., reheating a romance, a debate).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct calque 'перегревать' which means 'to overheat'. Use 'разогревать (снова)' or 'подогревать'.
- The prefix 're-' is not always directly translated as 'пере-'; context matters.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'overheat' instead of 'reheat' (overheat = make too hot).
- Misspelling as 're-heat' (hyphen is generally unnecessary).
Practice
Quiz
In which context is 'reheat' used metaphorically?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It is neutral. In very informal speech, people might say 'warm up' or 'nuke' (for microwave).
Yes, metaphorically. You can reheat a discussion, a conflict, or an economy, meaning to revive or intensify it after a period of inactivity.
'Preheat' means to heat an oven or appliance to a desired temperature BEFORE putting food in. 'Reheat' means to heat food AGAIN AFTER it has cooled.
It's a regular verb: reheat (present) -> reheated (past simple & past participle) -> reheating (present participle/gerund).