English
again
Etymology

From Middle English agayn, from Old English onġēan, from .

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /əˈɡɛn/, /əˈɡeɪn/
  • (regional, _, America, pin-pen) IPA: [əˈɡɪn]
Adverb

again (not comparable)

  1. Another time; once more. [from 14thc.]
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […]. […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
    • 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher), draft:
      He tangled in tree-tops again and again / And barely missed hitting a tri-motored plane.
    • 1979, Charles Edward Daniels et al., “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (song), Million Mile Reflections, Charlie Daniels Band, Epic Records:
      Johnny said, “Devil, just come on back if you ever want to try again / I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I’m the best that’s ever been.”
  2. Over and above a factor of one. [from 16thc.]
  3. Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion. [from 16thc.]
    Great, thanks again!
    1. Tell me again, say again; used in asking a question to which one may have already received an answer that one cannot remember.
      What's that called again?
    2. I ask again, I say again; used in repeating a question or statement.
      Again, I'm not criticizing, I just want to understand.
    3. Here too, here also, in this case as well; used in applying a previously made point to a new instance; sometimes preceded by "here".
      Approach B is better than approach A in many respects, but again, there are difficulties in implementing it.
      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC ↗, page 0016 ↗:
        A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
  4. (obsolete) Back in the reverse direction, or to an original starting point. [10th–18thc.]
    Bring us word again.
    • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC ↗, Matthew ij:
      And after they were warned in ther slepe, that they shulde not go ageyne to Herod, they retourned into ther awne countre another way.
  5. Back (to a former place or state). [from 11thc.]
    We need to bring the old customs to life again.
    The South will rise again.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:
      Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
  6. (obsolete) In return, as a reciprocal action; back. [13th–19thc.]
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
      So women are never angrie, but to the end a man should againe be angrie with them, therein imitating the lawes of Love.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
      Thus men are plagued with women, they again with men, when they are of diverse humours and conditions […].
    • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC ↗:
      As he lies in the light before a glaring white target, the black upon him shines again […].
  7. (obsolete) In any other place.
    • a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC ↗:
      There is not, in the world again, such a spring and seminary of brave military people as in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
  8. (obsolete) On the other hand.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
      The one is my sovereign […] the other again is my kinsman.
  9. Moreover; besides; further.
    • 1835, John Herschel, A Treatise on Astronomy:
      Again, it is of great consequence to avoid, etc.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Preposition
  1. (obsolete or dialectal) Against.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:
      And here begynneth the treson of Kynge Marke that he ordayned agayne Sir Trystram.
    • 1924, J H Wilkinson, Leeds Dialect Glossary and Lore, page 60:
      Ah'd like to wahrn (warn) thi agaan 'evvin owt to dew wi' that chap.
    • 2003, Glasgow Sunday Herald, page 16, column 2:
      You may think you are all on the same side, agin the government.


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