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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

recycle en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˌɹɪˈsaɪkəl/ (UK)
  • /ɹɪˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • /ɹɪˈsʌɪk(ə)l/ Canada, Canadian raising
  • /ɹəˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • /ˌɹiːˈsaɪkəl/ (UK)
  • [ˌɹɪ̝ˈsaɪkɫ̩] (UK)
  • [ˌɹiːˈsaɪkɫ̩] (UK)
  • /ɹiˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • [ɹɪˈsəi̯k(ə)ɫ] Canada, Canadian raising

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kúklos Ancient Greek κῠ́κλος (kŭ́klos)der. Late Latin cyclusbor. Middle English cicle English cycle English recycle From re- + cycle.

Meanings

  1. An act of recycling.
    • If the agency does not approve recycle of the cadet who failed to qualify, the cadet is sent home and is not hired by the department who sponsored him or her in the academy. 2020, Gary Gray, MUD on MY BADGE:
    • First, there will be little reaction in the settler so that the concentrations of soluble constituents in the recycle stream are the same as those in the bioreactor. Because all soluble concentrations are the same, the recycle of soluble constituents around the system has no impact on system performance. 2011, C. P. Leslie Grady, Jr.; Glen T. Daigger; Nancy G. Love, Biological Wastewater Treatment, Third Edition, page 189:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
recycles Number=Plur lexicographic

recycle en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˌɹɪˈsaɪkəl/ (UK)
  • /ɹɪˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • /ɹɪˈsʌɪk(ə)l/ Canada, Canadian raising
  • /ɹəˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • /ˌɹiːˈsaɪkəl/ (UK)
  • [ˌɹɪ̝ˈsaɪkɫ̩] (UK)
  • [ˌɹiːˈsaɪkɫ̩] (UK)
  • /ɹiˈsaɪkəl/ (General-American)
  • [ɹɪˈsəi̯k(ə)ɫ] Canada, Canadian raising

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kúklos Ancient Greek κῠ́κλος (kŭ́klos)der. Late Latin cyclusbor. Middle English cicle English cycle English recycle From re- + cycle.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To break down and reuse component materials.
    • Recycling and reusing the material eliminates the need to import aggregate, a strategy which has avoided over 50,000 lorry movements on local roads. 2024 May 29, “Network News: HS2's Bromford Tunnel portal complete ready for TBM breakthrough...”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 14:
    • Both paper and plastic can be recycled.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To reuse as a whole.
    • Jokes are recycled so frequently, it’s as if comedy writing was eating a hole in the ozone layer: If the audience had a nickel for every time a character on one side of the frame says something could never happen as it simultaneously happens on the other side of the frame, they’d have enough to pay the surcharge for the movie’s badly implemented 3-D. 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, in AV Club:
    • He [Huw Jones] was hauled down in England’s 22 but, when the ball was quickly recycled, [Finn] Russell’s miss-pass gave Sean Maitland the room to score in the left corner. 2018 February 24, Paul Rees, “Finn Russell masterminds historic Scotland victory over England”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2018:
    • Now populists recycle communist verities: the fetishisation of working-class culture, the vision of a good “people” fighting a bad elite, the belief that the state should control business and the dismissal of parliamentary democracy as a bourgeois sham. 2025 September 13, Simon Kuper, “How Maga rewrote the Little Red Book”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:
  3. (intransitive, transitive) To collect or place in a bin for recycling.
    • Recycling is no longer a chore when this convenient recycling center is a fixture in your kitchen. 2003, The Complete Guide to Easy Woodworking Projects: 50 Projects You Can Build With Hand Power Tools, Minneapolis: Creative Publishing International, page 270:
    • Most cans, bottles, and jars need to be rinsed, so recycle while you are doing dishes. 1990, Laurence Sombke, The Solution to Pollution: 101 Things You Can Do to Clean Up Your Environment, Sandy, Oregon: MasterMedia, p 22
    • Who cares if you’re good-looking if you don’t recycle? Essentially, yes. Car-sharing, wearing patchwork clothes (signifying mending rather than throwing away) and carrying reusable coffee cups all came up as signs of environmentally virtuous behaviour. 2026 March 2, “The greenest flags: virtue signals that help you find love – from patchwork clothes to car sharing”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
    • You'll find many configurations, including models that hide behind a single cabinet door and conceal from one to three bins, so you can recycle at the same spot where you dispose of trash. 2006, Elaine Martin Petrowski, Design Ideas for Home Storage, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Creative Homeowner, page 133:
  4. (ergative, intransitive) To be recycled.
    • Sulfur recycles in the sulfur cycle.
  5. (US) To discard into a recycling bin.
  6. (US, transitive) To put (a person) through a course of training again.
    • Recruits cannot fail this portion of their training and become a Marine. Anyone who fails may be “recycled” through training up to three more times to try again, but will be sent home if success in this program is not achieved. 2006, Barbara Schading, Richard Schading, A Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military, page 102:
  7. (qualifier:roller derby) To skate toward the rear of the engagement zone to maximize the time that an opposing jammer must spend before returning to the action.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
recycled Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
recycled Tense=Past lexicographic
recycling Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
recycles Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Deriveds

recycle truck · recyclable · recycling · recyclic · ecycle · recycle shop · Freecycle · recyclebot · recycle time · recycle man · recycle day · recycle bin · recyclate · grasscycle · freecycle · recyclability · recyclist

Descendants

recyclen · recyclen · recyceln

Hyponyms

upcycle · downcycle

Synonyms

waterfall

Translations (93)

hi पुनर्चक्रण (to reuse as a whole) · ja リサイクルする (to break down and reuse component materials) · tr geri dönüştürmek (to break down and reuse component materials) · hu újrafelhasznál (to break down and reuse component materials) · da genbruge (to reuse as a whole) · de wiederverwerten (to reuse as a whole) · is endurnýta (to reuse as a whole) · hu újrahasznosít (to reuse as a whole) · kl atoqqippaa (to break down and reuse component materials) · arz ريسايكل (to break down and reuse component materials) · cs recyklovat (to break down and reuse component materials) · ar إِعَادَةْ تَدْوِير (to break down and reuse component materials) · io reciklar (to reuse as a whole) · cmn 回收 (to break down and reuse component materials) · nb gjenbruke (to break down and reuse component materials) · kmr veçerxîn (to break down and reuse component materials) · fr recycler (to break down and reuse component materials) · ru рециркули́ровать (to break down and reuse component materials) · pt reusar (to reuse as a whole) · vi tái chế (to break down and reuse component materials) · mk рецикли́ра (to break down and reuse component materials) · fi kierrättää (to reuse as a whole) · gd ath-chuairtich (to break down and reuse component materials) · eo reuzi (to reuse as a whole) · is endurvinna (to break down and reuse component materials) · ru рециркули́ровать (to reuse as a whole) · nb gjenbruke (to reuse as a whole) · fa بازیافت کردن (to break down and reuse component materials) · it riciclare (to break down and reuse component materials) · pl przetwarzać (to break down and reuse component materials) · is endurnota (to reuse as a whole) · da genbruge (to break down and reuse component materials) · kmr veçerxandin (to break down and reuse component materials) · bg преработвам (to break down and reuse component materials) · cy ailgylchu (to break down and reuse component materials) · fr recycler (to reuse as a whole) · sv återvinna (to break down and reuse component materials) · pt reciclar (to break down and reuse component materials) · tl paliikot (to break down and reuse component materials) · es reciclar (to break down and reuse component materials) · ru перераба́тывать (to break down and reuse component materials) · de wiederverwerten (to break down and reuse component materials) · de recyceln (to break down and reuse component materials) · eu birziklatu (to break down and reuse component materials) · gl reciclar (to break down and reuse component materials) · sv återanvända (to break down and reuse component materials) · nl hergebruiken (to break down and reuse component materials) · tr geri dönüşüm (to break down and reuse component materials) · ja 再利用する (to reuse as a whole) · nl herbruiken (to reuse as a whole) · fr réutiliser (to reuse as a whole) · ms kitar semula (to break down and reuse component materials) · hu újrahasznosít (to break down and reuse component materials) · sv återanvända (to reuse as a whole) · ro recicla (to break down and reuse component materials) · id daur ulang (to break down and reuse component materials) · pt reciclar (to reuse as a whole) · ca reciclar (to break down and reuse component materials) · cmn 再利用 (to reuse as a whole) · hu szelektíven gyűjti a hulladékot (to place in a bin for recycling) · ga athchúrsáil (to break down and reuse component materials) · nrf r'cyclier (to break down and reuse component materials) · hu reciklál (to break down and reuse component materials) · ru повто́рно испо́льзовать (to reuse as a whole) · es reusar (to reuse as a whole) · km កែច្នៃឡើងវិញ (to break down and reuse component materials) · hu szelektálja a hulladékot (to place in a bin for recycling) · ko 재활용하다 (to break down and reuse component materials) · ja 再生する (to break down and reuse component materials) · hu újrafeldolgoz (to break down and reuse component materials) · th รีไซเคิล (to break down and reuse component materials) · gd ath-chuairtich (to reuse as a whole) · pl przetworzyć (to break down and reuse component materials) · da genanvende (to break down and reuse component materials) · it riutilizzare (to reuse as a whole) · nb resirkulere (to reuse as a whole) · uk переробля́ти (to break down and reuse component materials) · pl poddawać recyklingowi (to break down and reuse component materials) · hi पुनर्चक्रण (to break down and reuse component materials) · nb gjenvinne (to break down and reuse component materials) · ru перерабо́тать (to break down and reuse component materials) · nl recycleren (to break down and reuse component materials) · eo recikligi (to break down and reuse component materials) · gl reusar (to reuse as a whole) · nb resirkulere (to break down and reuse component materials) · az təkrar emal etmək (to break down and reuse component materials) · fi kierrättää (to break down and reuse component materials) · io ricikligar (to break down and reuse component materials) · el ανακυκλώνω (to break down and reuse component materials) · nl recyclen (to break down and reuse component materials) · bg използвам отново (to reuse as a whole) · cmn 循環再造 /循环再造 (to break down and reuse component materials) · mi hangarua (to break down and reuse component materials)