relive

relive — verb

1. to think about something that happened before and feel again the same feelings y

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to think about something that happened before and feel again the same feelings you had then, as if it were happening now

Example

Sora relived his first trip to Tokyo by looking through old photos on his phone.

relive + by + gerund (method)

Putri closed her eyes and relived the joyful moment she won the scholarship.

relive + moment of success

Common collocations
  • relive a memory
  • relive a moment
  • relive an experience
  • relive the past
  • relive a dream
  • relive a victory
  • relive a conversation
Synonyms
  • re-experience

    more formal and direct; common in psychology and clinical writing

  • revisit

    milder than relive; implies going back mentally to examine a memory, not necessarily feeling the same emotions

  • experience again

    the simplest, most literal paraphrase; less vivid than relive

Antonyms
  • forget

    opposite in meaning — to no longer have the memory at all

  • suppress

    to actively push a memory away instead of letting it come back

Grammar Patterns

relive + noun phrase

Usage Note

Often used with vivid or emotionally charged past experiences — such as achievements, joyful occasions, or traumatic events. Frequently appears with 'vividly', 'in one's mind', or through the medium of photos or videos.

Common Mistakes

He took medicine to relive the pain.
He took medicine to relieve the pain.
'relive' (experience again) and 'relieve' (lessen discomfort) are easily confused because they sound alike.
She relived the funny story to her friends.
She retold the funny story to her friends.
You relive your own experience; you retell a story to others.

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Relive is the most emotionally intense of the three: it means experiencing a past event again with the same feelings you had at the time, almost as if it were happening now. Reminisce is warmer and more nostalgic — you think back on happy memories with fondness, but the original emotion does not return in full force. Recall is neutral and factual: you bring information or an image to mind without necessarily feeling anything at all. For example, you might recall what you ate for breakfast, reminisce about childhood holidays with a smile, and relive a frightening moment that still makes your heart beat faster.

relive ↗reminisce ↗recall ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • relive a memory
  • relive the experience
  • relive the moment
  • relive the past

Prepositions

Etymology

Latin / Old French (prefix: re-)Old English (libban → live)English

Formed in English from the prefix 're-' (meaning 'again') and the verb 'live' (from Old English 'libban', meaning to exist or be alive). First recorded in English in the 1500s. The sense of imagining past events as if they were happening again became common in the 1800s.