use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

re·claim (rĭ-klām)
Share:
tr.v. re·claimed, re·claim·ing, re·claims
1. To resume possession of; take back: reclaimed our luggage; reclaimed the heavyweight boxing title.
2. Chiefly British To legally request what is due: reclaimed the tax that is owed.
3. To require or deserve again: The movie reclaimed my attention.
4. To bring into or return to a suitable condition for use, as cultivation or habitation: reclaim marshlands; reclaim strip-mined land.
5. To procure (usable substances) from refuse or waste products; recycle.
6. To bring back, as from error, to a right or proper course; reform. See Synonyms at save1.
7. To use or reinterpret (a historically derogatory name or term) in a positive way, as in pride for one's social group.
8. To tame (a falcon, for example).
n.
Restoration to a previous or reformed state: a life beyond reclaim.

[Middle English reclamen, to call back, from Old French reclamer, to entreat, from Latin reclāmāre : re-, re- + clāmāre, to cry out; see kelə-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

re·claima·ble adj.
re·claimant, re·claimer n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.