Retransmitting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process through which information is received and subsequently sent out again to a different location
2. The action of receiving signals and passing them along to ensure successful delivery to another point
3. The act of capturing data or signals and then sending them onward to another destination

Etymology: "Retransmitting" is the present participle of "retransmit," a verb built from the prefix "re-" meaning "again" or "back" and "transmit," meaning to send something across a distance. The verb is a simple English compound, so its story is really the story of its two parts. "Transmit" comes from Latin "transmittere," literally "to send across," formed from "trans-" ("across") and "mittere" ("to send"). It reached English through Old French and Middle English, and the "re-" prefix comes from Latin "re-," which English has used freely to form new verbs from existing ones. Combining the two gives a word meaning to send something across again, or onward once more. Because "transmit" was in use long before "retransmit" was formed, the newer verb inherits the older sense of sending a message or signal along a route, and the prefix simply adds the idea of repetition. That is why the word fits naturally in discussions of radio, broadcasting, and data networks, where a signal is received and then sent on again.

Synonyms: broadcasting, relaying, transmitting, sending, disseminating

Antonyms: receiving, withholding, stopping, ceasing, interrupting