Recommissioning

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of restoring something to active use or service after a period of inactivity
2. Reestablishing a system, machine, or facility to functioning condition so it can be used again
3. Bringing an inactive object or installation back into operational status for renewed activity

Etymology: "Recommissioning" is the present participle and gerund of "recommission", which is simply "re-" attached to "commission". The verb is built in English from those two parts: "re-" meaning again, and "commission", a word whose core sense is an official charge or authority given to someone to perform a task. Putting them together gives the sense of granting that charge or authority again, which over time came to mean returning a ship, aircraft or other piece of equipment to active service. The "commission" half carries most of the history. It passed into English through Old French from Latin "commissio", a noun connected to "committere", to entrust or bring together. The naval sense, where a ship is "commissioned" by being formally put into service, is the one that makes the word's modern use so specific: a decommissioned vessel is taken out of service, and recommissioning is the reverse process of bringing it back.

Synonyms: restoring, reactivating