REINCARNATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reincarnation mean? 

• REINCARNATION (noun)
  The noun REINCARNATION has 3 senses:

1. embodiment in a new form (especially the reappearance or a person in another form)

2. a second or new birth

3. the Hindu or Buddhist doctrine that a person may be reborn successively into one of five classes of living beings (god or human or animal or hungry ghost or denizen of Hell) depending on the person's own actions

  Familiarity information: REINCARNATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REINCARNATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Embodiment in a new form (especially the reappearance or a person in another form)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

his reincarnation as a lion

Hypernyms ("reincarnation" is a kind of...):

avatar; embodiment; incarnation (a new personification of a familiar idea)

Derivation:

reincarnate (be born anew in another body after death)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A second or new birth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

rebirth; reincarnation; renascence

Hypernyms ("reincarnation" is a kind of...):

birth; nascence; nascency; nativity (the event of being born)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reincarnation"):

transmigration (the passing of a soul into another body after death)

cycle of rebirth ((Hinduism) repeated rebirth in new forms)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The Hindu or Buddhist doctrine that a person may be reborn successively into one of five classes of living beings (god or human or animal or hungry ghost or denizen of Hell) depending on the person's own actions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("reincarnation" is a kind of...):

theological doctrine (the doctrine of a religious group)

 Context examples 

Water is not the only molecule that may undergo a cycle of chemical reincarnation on these planets, according to the new study.

(Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters, NASA/JPL)