recycle
Definition
- Verb:
- To process used materials so they can be used again: To treat waste items (like paper, glass, or plastic) so that they can be made into new products.
- To use again in a cycle: To cause something to pass through a system or process again; to reintroduce into a cycle.
Usage
- The core meaning involves reprocessing materials to prevent waste. It is a transitive verb (e.g., recycle something).
- It can also describe the reuse of abstract things, like ideas or themes, within a new context.
Examples
- Verb:
- Please recycle all plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
- The factory recycles old newspapers into insulation material.
- The composer recycled a melody from his earlier work in the new symphony.
Advanced Usage
- "To be recycled": Describes the state of materials having been processed for reuse.
- Over 60% of the waste collected in this city is recycled.
- Conceptual recycling: Using an idea, argument, or element again.
- The politician recycled the same promises from his last campaign.
Variants and Related Words
- Recyclable (adj): Capable of being recycled.
- Make sure the container is recyclable.
- Recycling (n): The process or practice of collecting and reprocessing used materials.
- Curbside recycling has increased participation rates.
- Recycler (n): A person or machine that recycles.
- He is an avid recycler of electronic waste.
Synonyms
- Reuse: To use something again, often without extensive reprocessing.
- Reprocess: To subject something to a process again (very close in meaning).
- Recover: To retrieve (a substance) for reuse, often from waste.
Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases
- (To) recycle back into: To return a processed material to a system for use.
- The purified water is recycled back into the cooling system.
Related Idioms
- : To use an old idea again, often presenting it as new.
- The new management just recycled the old ideas from a failed project.
Verb
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use again after processing
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We must recycle the cardboard boxes
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cause to repeat a cycle
