Revaluation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An act of reassessing the value, price, or importance of something, often in a financial or economic context
2. The process by which the worth or price of an asset, currency, or item is reviewed and adjusted
3. A formal review and change in the assessed value or significance of an object or concept, commonly involving monetary evaluation

Etymology: Revaluation is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "anew", attached to "valuation", a noun from "value" through the verb "value" and the suffix "-ation". So the word literally means a second valuing, a fresh assessment of something already priced or judged. Its prefix has a long road behind it, passing from Latin "re-" through Old French and Middle English before settling into English, but the building blocks themselves are transparent: put "again" in front of "valuation" and you get a re-estimate. The word's real career is in economics. Governments and central banks use it when they change the official worth of a currency, as when a country's money is formally raised or lowered against others. The same logic applies to property, shares, and assets that are reassessed for taxation or accounting, so the term is most at home in finance, where a "revaluation" can move billions on a single announcement.

Synonyms: reassessment, readjustment, revision

Antonyms: devaluation, diminution