# again

Pronunciation: say "uh-GEN" /əˈɡɛn/

## Adverb

1. Once more, marking the repetition of an action that has happened before.
   - Simple: One more time, after something has already happened.
   - _The committee voted again after the first count was disputed._
   - _She watched the film again, catching details she'd missed._
2. Back to a former place, position, or condition.
   - Simple: Back to how or where something was before, as in 'I feel well again'.
   - _Once the medicine took effect, she felt like herself again._
   - _The bridge was rebuilt and traffic flowed across it again._
3. Used in asking a question whose answer you received before but cannot now recall.
   - Simple: Used when you ask someone to repeat an answer you have forgotten.
   - _Sorry, what time does the train leave again?_
   - _Which one of these was your favorite again?_
4. Used to show that a point already made, or something already met in the discussion, applies or appears once more.
   - Simple: Used to say the same thing is true or comes up once more, as in 'again, we see the same problem'.
   - _The northern site was eroded; again, the southern site showed the same damage._
   - _Here again we see the pattern repeating across every dataset._
5. Used in repeating one's own question or statement, often for emphasis or insistence.
   - Simple: Used when you say your own question or words one more time.
   - _I say again, the decision was not mine to make._
   - _And again I ask: where were you that night?_
6. Used to introduce a contrasting thought, meaning 'on the other hand', now chiefly in 'then again' and 'there again'.
   - Simple: Used to show the other side of something, mostly in 'then 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._
7. Used to add a further point, meaning 'moreover' or 'besides.'
   - Simple: Used to add another point to what was said before.
   - _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._
8. Indicating a quantity over and above a factor of one, as in 'half as much again' or 'as much again.'
   - Simple: Used after words like half or as much to add that part of an amount on top of the whole amount.
   - _Within a decade the town's population was half again as large as before._
   - _Shipping costs as much again as the item itself._

## Preposition

10. Against; up against or in contact with something. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Against, or pressed up close to something.

## Adverb

9. Back in return, as a reciprocal response to another's action. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Back in return, as an answer to what someone did.
11. In any other place; elsewhere. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Somewhere else, in another place.

## 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").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/again (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).