• (America) enPR: rĭstôrʹ, IPA: /ɹɪˈstɔɹ/
• (RP) enPR: rĭstôʹ, IPA: /ɹɪˈstɔː/
• (rhotic, horse-hoarse) enPR: rĭstōrʹ, IPA: /ɹɪˈsto(ː)ɹ/
• (nonrhotic, horse-hoarse) IPA: /ɹɪˈstoə/

restore (restores, present participle restoring; past and past participle restored)

1. (transitive) To reestablish, or bring back into existence.

   to restore harmony among those who are at variance

   He restored my lost faith in him by doing a good deed.

2. (transitive) To bring back to good condition from a state of decay or ruin.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Mark iii:5 ↗:

     and his hand was restored whole as the other

   • our fortune restored after the severest afflictions

3. (transitive) To give or bring back (that which has been lost or taken); to bring back to the owner; to replace.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Genesis xx:7 ↗:

     Now therefore restore the man his wife.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 1”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Loss of Eden, till one greater man / Restore us, and regain the blissful seat.

   • The father banished virtue shall restore.

4. (transitive) To give in place of, or as restitution for.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Exodus xxii:1 ↗:

     He shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

5. (transitive, computing) To recover (data, etc.) from a backup.

   There was a crash last night, and we're still restoring the file system.

6. (transitive, music) To bring (a note) back to its original signification.
7. (obsolete) To make good; to make amends for.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet XXX

     But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, / All losses are restored, and sorrows end.

• See also Thesaurus:repair

• French: restaurer, rétablir
• German: wiederherstellen, restaurieren
• Italian: ristabilire, restaurare, riportare, rimettere
• Portuguese: restaurar
• Russian: восстана́вливать
• Spanish: restablecer

• French: rétablir
• Italian: riportare, rimettere, ristabilire
• Portuguese: restaurar, recuperar
• Russian: восстана́вливать
• Spanish: restaurar

• French: rendre, restituer
• Italian: restituire, ritornare, dare indietro

restore (plural restores)

1. (computing) The act of recovering data or a system from a backup.

   We backed up the data successfully, but the restore failed.

• restoration
• restorer