Reclaimed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Returned to a useful condition after being neglected or wasted ; recovered ownership or control that was lost or surrendered
2. Made suitable again for use, especially land or materials previously unusable ; regained possession of property or rights
3. Restored something to a functioning or productive state ; retrieved something by reclaiming it from another party

Etymology: Reclaimed is the past tense of "reclaim", and the verb's story starts with a Latin shout of protest. Latin "reclamare" meant to cry out against something, to protest or call back, built from "re-" (back) and "clamare" (to shout). Medieval English speakers borrowed it through Anglo-Norman and Middle French, and the earliest English sense was still legal and combative: to call back or protest against a decision or an action. The modern sense of making something usable again grew out of that idea of pulling something back from a bad state. A marsh once lost to water could be "reclaimed" by draining it, and the same logic applies to land, materials or even people brought back from ruin. The word's meaning has always been about getting something back that was lost or taken away.

Synonyms: recovered, reacquired, retrieved

Antonyms: lost, abandoned