REDEEM

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does redeem mean? 

• REDEEM (verb)
  The verb REDEEM has 6 senses:

1. save from sins

2. restore the honor or worth of

3. to turn in (vouchers or coupons) and receive something in exchange

4. exchange or buy back for money; under threat

5. pay off (loans or promissory notes)

6. convert into cash; of commercial papers

  Familiarity information: REDEEM used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REDEEM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they redeem    ... he / she / it redeems   
Past simple: redeemed   
Past participle: redeemed   
-ing form: redeeming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Save from sins

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

deliver; redeem; save

Domain category:

faith; organized religion; religion (an institution to express belief in a divine power)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

Redeemer (a teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for Christianity (circa 4 BC - AD 29))

redemption ((theology) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil)

redemptive (bringing about salvation or redemption from sin)

redemptive; redemptory (of or relating to or resulting in redemption)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Restore the honor or worth of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "redeem" is one way to...):

reestablish; reinstate; restore (bring back into original existence, use, function, or position)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

To turn in (vouchers or coupons) and receive something in exchange

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "redeem" is one way to...):

change; exchange; interchange (give to, and receive from, one another)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Exchange or buy back for money; under threat

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

ransom; redeem

Hypernyms (to "redeem" is one way to...):

change; exchange; interchange (give to, and receive from, one another)

Domain category:

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

redeemer (someone who redeems or buys back (promissory notes or merchandise or commercial paper etc.))

redemption (the act of purchasing back something previously sold)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Pay off (loans or promissory notes)

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

pay off; redeem

Hypernyms (to "redeem" is one way to...):

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

redeemer (someone who redeems or buys back (promissory notes or merchandise or commercial paper etc.))

redemption (repayment of the principal amount of a debt or security at or before maturity (as when a corporation repurchases its own stock))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Convert into cash; of commercial papers

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "redeem" is one way to...):

cash; cash in (exchange for cash)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

redeemer (someone who redeems or buys back (promissory notes or merchandise or commercial paper etc.))

 Context examples 

Weedon Scott had set himself the task of redeeming White Fang—or rather, of redeeming mankind from the wrong it had done White Fang.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

His redeeming quality is a love of animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were ineffectual.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

By means of them he redeemed all his pledges, paid most of his bills, and bought a new set of tires for his wheel.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

No; they not only live, but reign and redeem: and without their divine influence spread everywhere, you would be in hell—the hell of your own meanness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Emma was ready for her visitor some time before he appeared; but if this reflected at all upon his impatience, his sorrowful look and total want of spirits when he did come might redeem him.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I was proud, James, to see that you had the spirit of the Barringtons, and that I had an heir whose gallantry might redeem the family blot which I have striven so hard to cover over.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We went arm-in-arm to the public-house where the carrier put up, and I promised, on the road, to write to her. (I redeemed that promise afterwards, in characters larger than those in which apartments are usually announced in manuscript, as being to let.) We were greatly overcome at parting; and if ever, in my life, I have had a void made in my heart, I had one made that day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)