# reclaim

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈkleɪm/ · frequency rank #16,319

## Definitions
1. To return land to a suitable condition for use.
2. To obtain useful products from waste; to recycle.
3. To claim something back; to repossess.
4. To return someone to a proper course of action, or correct an error; to reform.
5. To tame or domesticate a wild animal.
6. To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting.
7. To cry out in opposition or contradiction; to exclaim against anything; to contradict; to take exceptions.
8. To draw back; to give way.
9. To appeal from the Lord Ordinary to the inner house of the Court of Session.
10. To bring back a term into acceptable usage, usually of a slur, and usually by the group that was once targeted by that slur.

## Etymology
From Middle English reclaymen, recleymen, reclamen, from Anglo-Norman reclamer (noun reclaim and Middle French reclamer (noun reclaim), from Latin reclāmō, reclāmāre. Equivalent to re- + claim.

## Common misspellings (10)
`erclaim`, `rcelaim`, `recalim`, `recclaim`, `reclaimm`, `reclami`, `recliam`, `recllaim`, `relcaim`, `rreclaim`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/reclaim