Reintertwining

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action or process of twisting or weaving things together again after they have been separated or loosened
2. The state of recombining or braiding elements back into a connected or unified form after detachment
3. The act of crossing or looping strands or parts anew to restore or form a complex, interlaced structure

Etymology: "Reintertwining" is a plain English compound built from familiar parts: the prefix "re-" meaning "again," the prefix "inter-" meaning "between" or "among," and "twining," the present participle of "twine." Twine is an older word, going back to Old English "twīn," meaning a double thread or two strands twisted together, and the verb "intertwine," meaning to twist strands together so they weave among one another, was formed in English by joining "inter-" to "twine." The word is what linguists call a recent formation, meaning it was assembled on the spot from existing pieces rather than inherited from an earlier language. Its meaning follows directly from those parts: where "intertwine" describes strands becoming tangled together, adding "re-" describes doing that tangling a second time, or undoing a tangle and binding the strands again. Because English speakers can attach "re-" to almost any verb, the form appears mainly in writing and speech where someone needs to describe a repeated or renewed weaving together of things, such as lives, roots, or threads.

Synonyms: reweaving, rebraiding, entwining again, interlacing again, intertwisting

Antonyms: untwining, separating, unbraiding, disentangling, unweaving