# redress

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈdɹɛs/ · frequency rank #23,968

## Definitions
1. To put in order again; to set right; to revise.
2. To set right (a wrong); to repair, (an injury or damage); to make amends for; to remedy; to relieve from.
3. To make amends or compensation to; to relieve of anything unjust or oppressive; to bestow relief upon.
4. To put upright again; to restore.

## Etymology
From Middle English redressen, from Anglo-Norman radresser, redrescer, redrescier and Middle French redresser (“to stand (someone or something) up; to stand up again; to rebuild, to repair something damaged, to rectify, to restore; to obtain redress; to cure; (of hair) to stand on end; to revise a judgment”) (modern French redresser), from Old French redrecier (“to stand (someone or something) up; to stand up again”), from Old French re- (“again, once more”) (from Latin re-, from Proto-Italic *wre (“again”); further etymology uncertain) + Old French drechier, drecier, dresser (“to dress; to stand up”) (from Vulgar Latin *drēctiāre, a contracted form of *dīrēctiāre, from Latin dīrēctus (“straight”)).
Compare Catalan redreçar, Spanish redreçar (obsolete), Italian redreçare, redrezare, redricciare, ridirizzare (all obsolete), ridrizzare, Late Latin redressare (“to repair; to set right”), Old Occitan redreisar, redresar.

## Easily confused with
- **refresh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/redress-vs-refresh)
- **repress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/redress-vs-repress)
- **regress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/redress-vs-regress)
- **recess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recess-vs-redress)
- **redness** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/redness-vs-redress)

## Common misspellings (9)
`erdress`, `rderess`, `reddress`, `rederss`, `redres`, `redrress`, `redrses`, `rerdess`, `rredress`

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