Reroll

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Rolling a die, or repeating any random draw, to obtain a fresh outcome in place of the one first received
2. Throwing the dice or drawing again for a new random result, usually after the first outcome proved unsatisfactory
3. Making another random roll so that the original result is replaced by a different one in a game or simulation

Etymology: Rerolling is about as plain as English word-building gets: the prefix "re-", meaning "again", attached to "roll". The verb "roll" itself has a long path behind it. It descends from Latin "rota", meaning "wheel", which passed through Latin "rotulus", a small roll or scroll, and then into Old French "roeler" and Middle English "rollen". So the word for something turning on a wheel eventually became the word for a list written on a scroll and, later, for any turning motion. Rerolling, then, is simply rolling once more, a meaning the compound carries without any twist. Its modern uses, such as rerolling a die in a board game or a character's stats in a video game, follow directly from that sense of trying a turn again.

Synonyms: redo, retake, re-roll