rectify

English

Etymology

From Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-Norman rectifiier, rectefier (“to make straight”), from Medieval Latin rēctificō (“to make right”), from Latin rēctus (“straight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛktəˌfaɪ/

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Verb

rectify (third-person singular simple present rectifies, present participle rectifying, simple past and past participle rectified)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To heal (an organ or part of the body).
2. (transitive) To restore (someone or something) to its proper condition; to straighten out, to set right.
3. (transitive) To remedy or fix (an undesirable state of affairs, situation etc.).

   to rectify the crisis

4. (transitive, chemistry) To purify or refine (a substance) by distillation.
5. (transitive) To correct or amend (a mistake, defect etc.).
6. (transitive, now rare) To correct (someone who is mistaken).
   • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:

     For thus their Sense informeth them, and herein their Reason cannot Rectifie them; and therefore hopelessly continuing in mistakes, they live and die in their absurdities […]

7. (transitive, geodesy, historical) To adjust (a globe or sundial) to prepare for the solution of a proposed problem.
8. (transitive, electronics) To convert (alternating current) into direct current.
9. (transitive, mathematics) To determine the length of a curve included between two limits.
10. (transitive) To produce (as factitious gin or brandy) by redistilling bad wines or strong spirits (whisky, rum, etc.) with flavourings.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:repair

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• certify, cretify