Reliquify

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause a substance that was solid or gasified to become liquid again by applying heat or other processes; to restore liquid form to a previously transformed state; to convert back into a flowing or pourable state from non-liquid conditions
2. The act of turning a solid or vapor back into liquid phase through re-melting or condensation; the process of reversing solidification or evaporation; restoring liquidity to a material previously altered by temperature or pressure changes
3. Transforming a material that had become solid or gaseous back into liquid through thermal or chemical means; reverting the state of matter to liquid after freezing or vaporization; inducing liquefaction once more in a substance that lost its fluidity

Etymology: "Reliquify" is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back", attached to "liquify", which itself comes from Latin "liquefacere", "to make liquid", built from "liquere", "to be liquid", and "facere", "to make". So the word simply means to make liquid again, reversing a return to solid or gas. The "re-" does the work here. Its meaning is literal and mechanical: a substance that has frozen or evaporated is pushed back toward its earlier liquid state. Because "liquify" already describes turning a solid or gas into a liquid, adding "re-" points the process backward in time, from a state that has already been reached toward one that came before.

Synonyms: liquefy again, re-melt, reliquidate

Antonyms: solidify, freeze, solidify again