Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To regain control of (territory previously lost) by military force.
  • transitive verb To defeat or overwhelm (a population, for instance) again by force of arms.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To conquer again; recover by conquest.
  • To recover; regain.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To conquer again; to recover by conquest.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To conquer again.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb conquer anew

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French reconquerir, reconquérir or from re- +‎ conquer.

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Examples

  • DENVER -- La reconquista, a radical movement calling for Mexico to "reconquer" America's Southwest, has stepped out of the shadows at recent immigration-reform protests nationwide as marchers held signs saying, "Uncle Sam Stole Our Land!" and waved Mexico's flag.

    From On High 2006

  • DENVER -- La reconquista, a radical movement calling for Mexico to "reconquer" America's Southwest, has stepped out of the shadows at recent immigration-reform protests nationwide as marchers held signs saying, "Uncle Sam Stole Our Land!" and waved Mexico's flag.

    Archive 2006-04-01 2006

  • One D.F. cabbie railed to this reporter against Americans who feel they can come to Mexico to "reconquer" the Indians.

    Taxi Driver 1997

  • One D.F. cabbie railed to this reporter against Americans who feel they can come to Mexico to "reconquer" the Indians.

    Taxi Driver 1997

  • When are you going to do some critical reporting on the new black panther party, or the mexican groups which threaten to "reconquer" the southwest?

    The Clog 2010

  • Mr. Dobbs has reported as fact the so-called Aztlan conspiracy, which claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are part of a plot to "reconquer" the American Southwest.

    Southern Poverty Law Center: All Center News 2009

  • "These are people who want to 'reconquer' the entire American Southwest ceded to the U.S. in 1848 and have it become part of Mexico again.

    Flag Wavers and Saber Rattlers: James Wolcott Wolcott, James, 1952- 2009

  • In the 1814 plan there was no hope to reconquer the United States, but with a British army firmly ensconced in the interior of New York, amid what the British yet again assumed was a sympathetic population, the Americans might have to concede a more southerly border for the Canadian provinces, if not in New York, then perhaps in Maine.

    Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011

  • While the initial Haitian revolution did succeed without facing all that many French soldiers, Napoleon did later send a large army to reconquer the island, which failed largely due to yellow fever outbreaks, as Fostert points out.

    Matthew Yglesias » Did Haiti Form a Pact With the Devil? 2010

  • In the 1814 plan there was no hope to reconquer the United States, but with a British army firmly ensconced in the interior of New York, amid what the British yet again assumed was a sympathetic population, the Americans might have to concede a more southerly border for the Canadian provinces, if not in New York, then perhaps in Maine.

    Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011

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