again
- 1Once more, marking the repetition of an action that has happened before.
The committee voted again after the first count was disputed.
She watched the film again, catching details she'd missed.
UsageUsually comes after the verb and its object: read it again, try again. Again and again means over and over.
Note
Robert L. May's Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1939) has Santa tangling in tree-tops again and again.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Robert L. May wrote Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, first published in 1939. madeinchicagomuseum.com
- 2Back to a former place, position, or condition.
Once the medicine took effect, she felt like herself again.
The bridge was rebuilt and traffic flowed across it again.
UsageCommon with be, feel and verbs of restoring: home again, herself again, rise again.
Note
The returning sense, and the one closest to the word's root: Old English onġēan meant both "against" and "again", so the word could point back as well as forward. Here nothing need happen twice. Something is simply restored, as when Miss Trevor becomes "her old self again" in the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897).
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Again derives from Old English onġēan, glossed as both “against” and “again”. en.wiktionary.org
- The returning sense reflects the Old English word’s meaning. en.wiktionary.org
- Winston Churchill was an American novelist. en.wikipedia.org
- Winston Churchill wrote The Celebrity. en.wikipedia.org
- The Celebrity describes Miss Trevor becoming “her old self again”. gutenberg.org
- 3Used in asking a question whose answer you received before but cannot now recall.
Sorry, what time does the train leave again?
Which one of these was your favorite again?
UsageGoes at the end of the question: what was her name again? It sounds gentler than a plain question.
- 4Used to show that a point already made, or something already met in the discussion, applies or appears once more.
The northern site was eroded; again, the southern site showed the same damage.
Here again we see the pattern repeating across every dataset.
Note
Parallel cases, linked: a point already made is carried over to a new instance, and here again is the strengthened form. Marie Belloc Lowndes's The Lodger (1913) uses it to stack bargains, first the carpet and then, "as, again," the arm-chair.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Marie Belloc Lowndes wrote The Lodger. en.wikipedia.org
- The Lodger was first published as a novel in 1913. en.wikipedia.org
- The novel describes the carpet and then the arm-chair as bargains, linking them with the exact wording “as, again,”. gutenberg.org
- 5Used in repeating one's own question or statement, often for emphasis or insistence.
I say again, the decision was not mine to make.
And again I ask: where were you that night?
UsageOften at the start, with a comma: Again, I'm not blaming you. Also common in I say again and I ask again.
Note
The speaker restates a stance already taken, whether to soften a remark or to insist on it.
- 6Used to introduce a contrasting thought, meaning 'on the other hand', now chiefly in 'then again' and 'there again'.
The offer was generous, but then again, accepting it meant leaving home for good.
The apartment downtown is close to everything; then again, the rent is nearly twice what we pay now.
UsageMostly in then again, there again and but again. Without then or but, it may simply add a point.
Note
Shakespeare's Richard II has "the one is my sovereign… the other again is my kinsman." The one… the other frame is the giveaway.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Shakespeare's Richard II contains this quotation, spoken by the Duke of York in Act II, Scene 2. opensourceshakespeare.org
- 7Used to add a further point, meaning 'moreover' or 'besides.'
The plan is costly; again, it would take years to complete.
The site is too remote for most visitors; again, the cost of building a road there would be enormous.
Similarmoreover, besides, furthermore, also
Less common meanings
- 8Indicating a quantity over and above a factor of one, as in 'half as much again' or 'as much again.'
Within a decade the town's population was half again as large as before.
Shipping costs as much again as the item itself.
UsageBoth orders work: half as long again, half again as long. As much again doubles the amount.
Note
Arithmetic carried by an adverb: half again as long means one and a half times as long, not half as long. Austin H. Clark's 1908 descriptions of crinoids measure body parts as "one-third again" and "half again" as long as they are broad.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Half again as long means 1.5 times as long. en.wiktionary.org
- Austin H. Clark published descriptions of crinoids in 1908. repository.si.edu
- Clark uses both quoted expressions to describe the proportions of crinoid body parts. repository.si.edu
- 9Back in return, as a reciprocal response to another's action.
So women are never angrie, but to the end a man should againe be angrie with them, therein imitating the lawes of Love.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, The EssayesNote
Here the action is returned in kind. John Florio's Montaigne (1603) has a man "againe be angrie" with women who are angry first. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy has men plagued with women, "they again with men." Dickens's Bleak House still has gunpowder grime that "shines again" before a glaring white target, giving the light back.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Again has a historical reciprocal sense meaning in return or back. en.wiktionary.org
- John Florio's English translation of Montaigne first appeared in 1603. clarklibrary.ucla.edu
- Florio's translation describes women becoming angry to provoke reciprocal anger from a man, using the quoted words. luminarium.org
- Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy contains the quoted reciprocal statement. gutenberg.org
- Shines again is used in the sense of returning light. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Against; up against or in contact with something.
You may think you are all on the same side, agin the government.
2003, Glasgow Sunday Herald, column 2And here begynneth the treson of Kynge Marke that he ordayned agayne Sir Trystram.
1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte DarthurSimilaragainst
Note
A meaning the word has carried since Old English, when onġēan stood for both "against" and "again." Malory writes of treason ordained "agayne Sir Trystram" in 1485. J H Wilkinson's Leeds Dialect Glossary (1924) warns someone "agaan" a man, and the Glasgow Sunday Herald in 2003 puts people "agin the government." Outside dialect this use is obsolete, so standard English says against. The spelling agin marks a regional voice.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Again descends from Old English onġēan, meaning both against and again. en.wiktionary.org
- Malory describes treason ordained against Sir Trystram, using agayne. faculty.goucher.edu
- 1485 is the first publication year of Malory's work. en.wikipedia.org
- The Glasgow Sunday Herald used agin the government in 2003. en.wiktionary.org
- 11In any other place; elsewhere.
There is not, in the world again, such a spring and seminary of brave military people as in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine.”Note
A spatial use with nothing to do with repetition. When Francis Bacon writes, in his Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine, that there is no such seminary of soldiers "in the world again," he means anywhere else in the world. The trap for a modern reader is hearing "once more." Where an older sentence denies that a match exists, read again as elsewhere.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Again historically had the spatial meaning elsewhere, distinct from repetition. en.wiktionary.org
- Francis Bacon uses in the world again in Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine to mean elsewhere in the world. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English agayn, from Old English onġēan ("against, again"), going back to Proto-Germanic *in gagin. It is cognate with German entgegen ("contrary to"), Danish igen and Swedish igen ("again"), and Icelandic í gegnum ("through").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- Again derives from Middle English agayn. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English form derives from Old English onġēan, meaning “against, again”. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately derives from reconstructed Proto-Germanic *in gagin. en.wiktionary.org
- Again is cognate with German entgegen, glossed as “contrary to”. en.wiktionary.org
- Again is cognate with Danish igen and Swedish igen, both meaning “again”. en.wiktionary.org
- Again is cognate with Icelandic í gegnum, meaning “through”. en.wiktionary.org