Retweet

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To disseminate a message from another individual on a social media network, thereby enhancing its audience reach and impact
2. The act of forwarding a posted message from one user to others online, increasing its potential engagement and visibility among followers
3. To share someone else's message on a social media platform, thus amplifying its exposure and allowing it to reach a broader audience

Etymology: "Retweet" is built from the prefix "re-", meaning again or back, attached to "tweet", the name Twitter gave to its short posts. Together the parts describe passing along a post that someone else wrote, so that it reaches your own followers a second time. The base word is the more recent of the two in the sense that matters here: "tweet" was the platform's branded term for a message, and the verb built on it drew on that brand name rather than on any older English word. The prefix does the work of "again" or "back," which is why the same pattern appears with other verbs such as "repost" or "reshare," though those carry no platform name. Because the second element is a proper product name turned into a common verb, the word shows how a company's vocabulary can spread into everyday speech, and how a single prefix can turn a basic action into a new term.

Synonyms: repost, share, forward

Antonyms: delete, ignore, disregard