I was surprised of not seeing the verb Relearn in any of the online dictionaries I use the most: Cambridge, Oxford and MacMillan.
Is it formally correct to use it?
8
-
1It's definitely in the online Oxford Dictionary: oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/relearn– SomethingDarkSep 1, 2015 at 12:04
-
Thank you very much! Sorry for the question. I've realised I am using the wrong dictionary: the Oxford Learner's Dictionary oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. I am going to change it now!– viery365Sep 1, 2015 at 12:08
-
1@viery365: In the case of regularly-formed derivatives like wipe => rewipe, you won't necessarily find them in dictionaries anyway (that one isn't even in the full OED, for example). But that doesn't mean they're not valid words.– FumbleFingersSep 1, 2015 at 12:30
-
@FumbleFingers Thank you! My opinion on this matter is that the dictionaries should have entries for those words (at least the online versions) unless all verbs have the possibility of a regularly-formed derivative re- (which I still do not know). At least, an entry within the meaning of the word giving the info about the re- derivative.– viery365Sep 1, 2015 at 15:27
-
That's an interesting point about whether all verbs have the possibility of a regularly-formed derivative. My first thought was they do - assuming there's some context (no matter how contrived) where such a verb could be semantically credible. But on reflection I don't think there would be any support for rebe, rehave, rego etc. Since no-one has yet answered your question here (presumably because it's somewhat trivial - of course relearn would be "valid", regardless of whether you found it in your dictionary), perhaps you might consider editing it...– FumbleFingersSep 2, 2015 at 17:07
|
Show 3 more comments