rectify
verb/ˈɹɛktəˌfaɪ/
Etymology From Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-Norman rectifiier, rectefier (“to make straight”), from Medieval Latin rēctificō (“to make right”), from Latin rēctus (“straight”).
10 senses
- 1To heal (an organ or part of the body).
- 2To restore (someone or something) to its proper…
- 3To remedy or fix (an undesirable state of affairs…
- 4To purify or refine (a substance) by distillation.
- 5To correct or amend (a mistake, defect etc.).
- 6To correct (someone who is mistaken).
- 7To adjust (a globe or sundial) to prepare for the…
- 8To convert (alternating current) into direct current.
- 9To determine the length of a curve included between two limits.
- 10To produce (as factitious gin or brandy) by redistilling…
Obsolete To heal (an organ or part of the body).
To restore (someone or something) to its proper condition; to straighten out, to set right.
To remedy or fix (an undesirable state of affairs, situation etc.).
- to rectify the crisis
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To purify or refine (a substance) by distillation.
To correct or amend (a mistake, defect etc.).
Archaic To correct (someone who is mistaken).
- 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 […]1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:
Historical To adjust (a globe or sundial) to prepare for the solution of a proposed problem.
Business, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Electronics, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics To convert (alternating current) into direct current.
Mathematics, Sciences To determine the length of a curve included between two limits.
To produce (as factitious gin or brandy) by redistilling bad wines or strong spirits (whisky, rum, etc.) with flavourings.
- Derived terms
- georectified, georectify, misrectify, nonrectified, nonrectifying, orthorectify, rectenna, rectifiability, rectifiable, rectifiably, rectification, rectified spirit, rectifier, unrectified