Renewals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Events or procedures involving repeating, reviving, or extending the effectiveness or duration of licenses, access, or formal arrangements
2. The process of continuing or prolonging the duration of contracts, subscriptions, or memberships beyond their original end date
3. Actions that involve reestablishing the terms of a previous agreement to keep it active for an additional period

Etymology: "Renewals" is the plural of "renewal," which is simply the noun formed from "renew" plus the suffix "-al." The verb "renew" goes back to the Latin "renovare," meaning to make new again, built from "re-" (again) and "novus" (new), and it reached English through Middle English. The suffix "-al" is the familiar one that turns a verb into a noun of action, as in "arrival" or "refusal." The suffix has a longer ancestry than it first appears. It comes from Latin "-alis," an adjective-forming ending meaning "relating to," which passed through Old French "-al" and "-el" before settling into Middle English as "-al." So the same small piece that makes "renewal" a thing that is done also carries centuries of French and Latin inheritance.

Synonyms: extensions, reinstatements, revivals, resumptions, rejuvenations

Antonyms: cancellations, terminations, discontinuations