MEANING
To develop a new or revised theory of something already explained theoretically.
Use it for
revising an established theoretical explanation; rebuilding a framework after new evidence; changing how a phenomenon is understood conceptually; moving beyond an earlier model without merely rejecting itNames rebuilding a theoretical account, rather than simply describing new evidence or repeating an existing theory. Writing functions: Theory / Conceptual Language, Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- retheorize agency
- retheorize the relationship between
- retheorize social change
On the page
The study retheorizes trust as an institutional achievement rather than an individual disposition.
Evidence of unpaid coordination led the authors to retheorize how the network maintained itself.
Word forms
- Base
- retheorize
- Past tense
- retheorized
- Past participle
- retheorized
- Present participle
- retheorizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- retheorize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are retheorizing
- Present perfect
- have/has retheorized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been retheorizing
- Past
- retheorized
- Past continuous
- was/were retheorizing
- Past perfect
- had retheorized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been retheorizing
- Future
- will retheorize
- Future continuous
- will be retheorizing
- Future perfect
- will have retheorized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been retheorizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Transitive verb: retheorize; retheorizes; retheorized; retheorized; retheorizing. Future: will retheorize. Also written re-theorize; UK retheorise. These are aliases, not separate entries. Register: academic. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
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