Refounding

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Establishing an organization, institution or state again after it has collapsed, dissolved or been disrupted
2. The process of building something up from its basis once more, often after a break or failure
3. Starting over the founding of a group, nation or body so that it is set up anew on fresh principles

Etymology: Refounding is simply the present participle of "refound", so its story is really the story of "found" with a prefix attached. The verb "found" goes back through Middle English "founden" to Old French "fonder" and Latin "fundare", meaning to lay a base or bottom, from "fundus", a bottom or foundation. The sense of establishing something on firm ground stayed with it, so to found a city or an institution is to set its base in place. The prefix "re-" comes straight from Latin, where it meant "back" or "again", and English attached it to existing verbs to mean doing something anew. "Refound" therefore means to found again, to establish something a second time, usually after it has collapsed or been lost. The participle "refounding" carries that same sense of an ongoing act of re-establishing.

Synonyms: reestablish, restore, reconstitute

Antonyms: dissolve, disband