English
again
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /əˈɡɛn/, /əˈɡeɪn/
  • (regional US) IPA: /əˈɡɪn/
Adverb

again (not comparable)

  1. Another time; once more. [from 14thc.]
    • 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.”
    • 2010, Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian, 30 October:
      The last sentence is so shocking, I have to read it again.
  2. Over and above a factor of one. [from 16thc.]
    • 1908 December 10, Austin Hobart Clark, “New Genera and Species of Crinoids”, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Volume XXI, pp.229–230 ↗:
      Cirri l-lxxx, 15, about 12mm. long; first two joints short, about twice as broad as long; third about one-third again [=one and one-third times] as long as broad; fourth and fifth the longest, about half again [=one and a half times] as long as broad; […].
  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 7780546 ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860 ↗, 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, The Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Gospel of Matthew 2:
      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.
  6. (obsolete) In return, as a reciprocal action; back. [13th–19thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:5.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter I], in Le Morte Darthur, book III:
      but Merlyn warned the kynge couertly that gweneuer was not holsome for hym to take to wyf / for he warned hym that launcelot shold loue her and she hym ageyne
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
      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: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, 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 […].
    • 1852–3, Charles Dickens, Bleak House
      As he lies in the light before a glaring white target, the black upon him shines again […].
  7. (obsolete) In any other place.
  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: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
      The one is my sovereign […] the other again is my kinsman.
  9. Moreover; besides; further.
    • Again, it is of great consequence to avoid, etc.
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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