Reexposure

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of exposing someone or something again to a particular circumstance or condition
2. A process through which initial exposure is repeated to assess effects or reactions
3. The action of placing a subject back into a previously experienced environment for analysis or observation

Etymology: Reexposure is a plain formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "anew", attached to "exposure". Exposure itself comes from the Latin "exponere", "to set out" or "to expose", which passed into English through Old French and gave the sense of laying something open to light, weather or danger. Adding "re-" produces the idea of setting something out a second time, so the word describes repeating an original exposure to see what follows. The word's usefulness lies in that compound structure. Its meaning is fully transparent from its parts, so it needs no special history to be understood, and it is used mainly in research and medical contexts where a repeated exposure must be distinguished from the first.

Synonyms: re-exposure