Recasting

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The action of transforming an original concept by changing its form or context
2. The process of modifying an earlier version to enhance its understanding or applicability
3. Altering the structure or presentation of a concept to give it a new perspective ; creating a new version of something by reshaping or reworking it

Etymology: "Recasting" is the present participle and gerund of "recast", which combines the prefix "re-" ("again") with "cast", so the literal sense is "to shape again." The root "cast" came into English from Old Norse "kasta", meaning "to throw", and its earliest uses in English were concrete: casting a net, or throwing a die. Moulding metal or plaster into a fixed shape came later, from the idea of throwing molten material into a mould, and that sense of pouring something into a form is what the prefix extends. Applied to a text, a plan or a theory, "recast" moves the same act of reshaping from a physical object to an idea. To recast a draft is to pour its material back into a new mould, keeping the substance but changing the form so it works better. The process of doing this, which is what "recasting" names here, carries the same sense of starting again with the material already at hand.

Synonyms: reshaping, remodeling, reformulating, revising, reinterpreting

Antonyms: stagnation, continuity, preservation, unchanging, stability