redound
verb
Did you know?
A rising tide, as they say, lifts all boats. Or to be redundant: a redounding tide undulates such that the surrounding water elevates every pontoon. This latter sentence—in addition to featuring five words with some relationship to the Latin word for “wave,” unda (redundant, redound, undulate, surround, and water)—highlights the earliest and now-archaic meaning of redound, “to swell or overflow,” which entered English in the 14th century. Since then, additional uses of redound have abounded (abound being another unda relation), all containing ripples, however faint, of the original aqueous meaning. When an action or accomplishment redounds to someone’s credit or honor, for example, it reflects positively back on them the way a wave produced by someone jumping into a pool bounces back to the jumper. And when something redounds to someone’s advantage, one might say that it helps by accruing like, well, a rising tide.
Examples of redound in a Sentence
William Pesek, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
Attacks on democracy also are redounding, to democracy’s favor.
—Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 5 Oct. 2024
Because American companies and foundations are private actors, however, the benefits of their investments do not redound to the U.S. government.
—Elizabeth Economy, Foreign Affairs, 23 Apr. 2024
Whether high gas prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine or post-pandemic inflation at the grocery store, Biden absorbed the outrage while the mitigating steps taken by his Administration have not redounded to his credit.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for redound 
Dictionary Entries Near redound
Cite this Entry
“Redound.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redound. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
redound
verb
Share