Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

relive

[ree-liv] / riˈlɪv /




Frequently Asked Questions

What is another word for relive?
To relive something means to experience it again in some way—to reexperience it. Sometimes, relive means to vividly recall the experience in your mind, as if you’re living through it again. In this way, to relive is really to remember. Often, saying that you relived an event really means that a memory of it triggered the same emotions you felt during the original experience. Sometimes, we relive experiences in our dreams, and sometimes in flashbacks. When this happens, the mind recreates the experience from our memories. In movies like Groundhog Day, characters literally relive the same day over and over again—they repeat it again and again until Andie MacDowell falls in love with them.
How is relive different from reminisce?
The meanings of relive and reminisce can overlap. When you reminisce about past events, it’s often an intentional way of trying to relive them. Reminiscing is commonly done through talking about those events with other people who also experienced them, which can stir memories and emotions. But there are differences. Reminisce is always used in the context of fond memories, and reminiscing is always intentional, while relive can be used in positive contexts (fond memories) or negative ones (traumatic memories), and reliving an experience in your mind sometimes happens even when you don’t want it to.
Is it relive or re-live?
Like many other words that begin with the prefix re- (meaning “again”), relive is typically spelled without a hyphen. In some words that begin with the prefix re-, a hyphen is necessary to distinguish one word from another that would be spelled the same but has an entirely different meaning, such as resign (as in quit) and re-sign (as in sign again). This is not an issue with relive.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Many thanks for helping us relive memories of an amazing moment in our lives, in New York City and at the top of the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

If you joined the party during the reign of the Twilight Singers, this won’t sound drastically different; if you ignored the Twilight Singers but were waiting to relive “Gentlemen,” too bad.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

He was already looking forward to the end of his morning meeting so he and other football-loving colleagues could relive the match over another cup of coffee.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

"This is something I have to relive every day," she said.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Kathy, unsure of what else to do and not wanting to relive the moment in school again, picked up the frybread and took a bite.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

In his new memoir, “Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard,” runner Ken Rideout relives a physically grueling 2023 ultramarathon in the Gobi Desert.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025

She relives the events in her dreams, she says.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2024

Seattle Totems great Guyle Fielder admits the past week has been “overwhelming” as he relives a professional hockey career that ended a half-century ago.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2024

But the team can watch tape and he plans to make sure the group relives Friday night’s letdown, highlighting the best and worst of the team’s performance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2024

In other words, the song relives and retells the experiences of a child in another century and makes her story highly relatable to us today.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Det Supt Eleanor Welsh, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "These women have waited three or four decades for these verdicts and bravely relived their ordeals in a bid to secure justice."

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

“Over the course of many weeks during three separate trials, she relived unthinkably painful experiences in front of complete strangers,” said Bragg.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

This was only Chelsea's third clean sheet in 12 matches and boss Enzo Maresca was relived to emerge unscathed for once.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025

It is relived daily through stories passed down, names found in tribunal transcripts and artifacts pulled from mass graves.

From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2025

Twisting on the ground, he relived the pain, the cold, and the loneliness.

From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen

The father decided to plead guilty to avoid a long trial and spare his family reliving the child's death in court, Alexandrou said.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

McNeil has made a career out of reliving the gritty tales of debauchery and explosive expression that gave rise to the Ramones and CBGB’s and shocking tales of New York in the 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

That procedure, they argued, would result in “Christa involuntarily reliving the worst moments of her life, much like traumatized soldiers when they return from a war zone.”

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

By interrupting the repeated nighttime reliving of trauma, the treatment allowed many of them to sleep more peacefully.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

He fought it, didn’t know if he could handle reliving the past at that moment.

From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner




Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training