again

Another time: indicating a repeat of an action.

Adverb

  1. Another time: indicating a repeat of an action.
    • I enjoyed it so much I went again the next day.
    • He tangled in tree-tops again and again / And barely missed hitting a tri-motored plane. - 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher), draft
    • 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.” - 1979, Charles Edward Daniels et al., “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”...
  2. Back (to a former place or state).
    • We need to bring the old customs to life again.
    • The South will rise again.
    • 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...
  3. Over and above a factor of one.
    • This stick is quite long, but that other one is half as long again.
    • 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...
  4. 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.
    • 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.
      • 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. - 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes,...
  5. Back in the reverse direction, or to an original starting point.
    • Bring us word again.
    • And after they were warned in ther slepe, that they shulde not go ageyne to Herod, they retourned into ther awne countre another way. - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms,...
  6. In return, as a reciprocal action; back.
    • So women are never angrie, but to the end a man should againe be angrie with them, therein imitating the lawes of Love. - 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London:...
    • Thus men are plagued with women, they again with men, when they are of diverse humours and conditions[…]. - 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford,...
    • As he lies in the light before a glaring white target, the black upon him shines again[…]. - 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
  7. In any other place.
    • There is not, in the world again, such a spring and seminary of brave military people as in England, Scotland, and Ireland. - a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”,...
  8. On the other hand.
    • The one is my sovereign[…]the other again is my kinsman. - 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
  9. Moreover; besides; further.
    • Again, it is of great consequence to avoid, etc. - 1835, John Herschel, A Treatise on Astronomy:

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Old English onġēan Middle English agayn English again From Middle English agayn, from Old English onġēan (“against, again”), from Proto-West Germanic *in gagin, from Proto-Germanic *in gagin. Cognate with German entgegen (“contrary to”), North Frisian ijen (“against”), Danish igen (“again”), Swedish igen (“again”), and Norwegian Bokmål igjen (“again”), and Icelandic í gegnum (“through”). By surface analysis, on- + gain (“against”).

Forms

agen againe agayne ageyne agin ag'in 'gain

Synonyms

once more re- ana-

Derived

again and again again-coming againness agenbite all over again as much again at times and again born again born-again breathe again but then again come again cut and come again cut-and-come-again ever and again every now and again everything old is new again fix it again Tony half again here we go again how's that again Meagain never again not again

Preposition

  1. Against.
    • And here begynneth the treson of Kynge Marke that he ordayned agayne Sir Trystram. - 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:
    • Ah'd like to wahrn (warn) thi agaan 'evvin owt to dew wi' that chap. - 1924, J H Wilkinson, Leeds Dialect Glossary and Lore, page 60:
    • You may think you are all on the same side, agin the government. - 2003, Glasgow Sunday Herald, page 16, column 2

Forms

agen againe agayne ageyne agin ag'in 'gain