Reformatting

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Altering the arrangement or organization of information or text to improve clarity or appearance
2. Modifying the format or structure of content to make it suitable for a specific purpose or device
3. Adjusting the visual or structural presentation of data or text for better readability or compatibility

Etymology: "Reformatting" is the present participle and gerund of "reformat", a verb built from the prefix "re-" and "format". The prefix goes back through Latin "re-" to a Proto-Italic root meaning "back" or "again", and it reached English in the sense of doing something over. "Format" itself is the older and more interesting half: it comes from Latin "formatus", the past participle of "formare", meaning "to form" or "to shape", the same family that gives "form", "formal" and "formation". The sense of "format" as a page layout or the arrangement of data is much more recent than its shape-giving origins. Its ancestry runs back to Latin, and the modern computing and printing meanings grew out of the older general idea of giving something a definite structure. "Reformat" simply applies that structure-giving to something already formed, so a reformatted document is one that has been given its shape anew.

Synonyms: rearranging, redesigning, reorganizing, reshaping, adjusting