Recontextualize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To adapt information or concepts by placing them in a different context, which can lead to a changed understanding or interpretation
2. To transform the contextual background of ideas or content to generate new meanings and insights from them
3. To change the situational background of concepts or information, thereby altering their understanding and interpretation in a meaningful way

Etymology: The verb "recontextualize" is a plain modern formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back", attached to "contextualize". That in turn is built from "context" and the suffix "-ize", which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make something into or treat it as a certain kind of thing. "Context" comes ultimately from Latin "contextus", a joining together of woven parts, from "contexere", "to weave together", so the original sense is literally of threads interlaced, with the word's current meaning of surrounding circumstances only emerging later. The suffix "-ize" has a longer route. It came into English through Middle French and Late Latin, and ultimately traces back to Ancient Greek verbs ending in "-izein", which were widely borrowed by Latin writers. The "re-" prefix is older still in Latin, where it was a common way of expressing repetition or reversal, and English has long attached it freely to verbs. Because the word combines familiar parts, it reads as a straightforward compound, and its meaning follows directly from them: to place something again within a different set of surrounding circumstances, so that it is understood in a new way.

Synonyms: reinterpret, reframe, reassess, redefine, reorganize