recycle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɹiːˈsaɪkəl/
ipa: [ˌɹiːˈsaɪkɫ̩]
ipa: /ˌɹɪˈsaɪkəl/
ipa: [ˌɹɪ̝ˈsaɪkɫ̩]
ipa: /ɹəˈsaɪkəl/
ipa: /ɹɪˈsaɪkəl/
ipa: /ɹiˈsaɪkəl/
ipa: /ɹɪˈsʌɪk(ə)l/
ipa: [ɹɪˈsəi̯k(ə)ɫ]
rhymes: -aɪkəl
Forms: form: recycles
form: recycling
form: recycled
form: recycled
Etymology: From re- + cycle.
Senses: examples: text: Both paper and plastic can be recycled.
text: Recycling and reusing the material eliminates the need to import aggregate, a strategy which has avoided over 50,000 lorry movements on local roads.
ref: 2024 May 29, “Network News: HS2's Bromford Tunnel portal complete ready for TBM breakthrough...”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 14:
glosses: To break down and reuse component materials.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, in AV Club:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 2025 September 13, Simon Kuper, “How Maga rewrote the Little Red Book”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 18:
glosses: To reuse as a whole.
examples: text: Most cans, bottles, and jars need to be rinsed, so recycle while you are doing dishes.
ref: 1990, Laurence Sombke, The Solution to Pollution: 101 Things You Can Do to Clean Up Your Environment, Sandy, Oregon: MasterMedia, p 22
text: Recycling is no longer a chore when this convenient recycling center is a fixture in your kitchen.
ref: 2003, The Complete Guide to Easy Woodworking Projects: 50 Projects You Can Build With Hand Power Tools, Minneapolis: Creative Publishing International, page 270:
text: 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.
ref: 2006, Elaine Martin Petrowski, Design Ideas for Home Storage, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Creative Homeowner, page 133:
glosses: To collect or place in a bin for recycling.
examples: text: Sulfur recycles in the sulfur cycle.
glosses: To be recycled.
glosses: To discard into a recycling bin.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2006, Barbara Schading, Richard Schading, A Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military, page 102:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To put (a person) through a course of training again.
synonyms: waterfall
qualifier: roller derby
glosses: To skate toward the rear of the engagement zone to maximize the time that an opposing jammer must spend before returning to the action.
Hyponyms: downcycle
upcycle
Derived terms: recyclability
recyclable
recycle bin
recycle day
recycle man
recycle shop
recycle time
recycle truck
recycling