rectify

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  rectifier, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French rectifier (“to make straight”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  rēctificāre (“make right”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin rēctus (“straight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛktəˌfaɪ/

Verb

rectify (third-person singular simple present rectif, present participle ies, simple past and past participle rectified)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To heal (an organ or part of the body). [14th-18th c.]
2. (transitive) To restore (someone or something) to its proper condition; to straighten out, to set right. [from 16th c.]
3. (transitive) To remedy or fix (an undesirable state of affairs, situation etc.). [from 15th c.]
4. (transitive, chemistry) To purify or refine (a substance) by distillation. [from 15th c.]
5. (transitive) To correct or amend (a mistake, defect etc.). [from 16th c.]
6. (transitive, now rare) To correct (someone who is mistaken). [from 16th c.]
   • 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, now historical) To adjust (a globe or sundial) to prepare for the solution of a proposed problem. [from 16th c.]
8. (transitive, electronics) To convert (alternating current) into direct current. [from 19th c.]
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

Derived terms

• rectifiable
• rectifiably
• rectification

• rectified spirit
• rectifier

Translations

to heal — see heal

to restore to its proper condition

• Finnish: korjata (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κατορθόω (katorthóō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to remedy or fix

• Finnish: korjata (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to purify or refine by distillation

• Finnish: tislata (fi), puhdistaa (fi)
• German: destillieren (de)
• Polish: destylować (pl) impf
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: очищать (ru) impf (očiščatʹ), дистиллировать (ru) impf (distillirovatʹ), ректифицировать (ru) impf (rektificirovatʹ)
• Turkish: damıtmak (tr), arıtmak (tr)

to correct or amend something

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 糾正／纠正 (zh) (jiūzhèng), 纠正 (zh) (jiūzhèng), 整頓／整顿 (zh) (zhěngdùn), 整顿 (zh) (zhěngdùn)

• Dutch: herzien (nl), corrigeren (nl), rectificeren (nl), rechtzetten (nl), amenderen (nl), amelioreren
• Finnish: oikaista (fi), korjata (fi)
• French: rectifier (fr)
• Galician: rectificar
• German: korrigieren (de)
• Irish: ceartaigh
• Italian: rettificare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 正す (ja) (ただす, tadasu)
• Maori: whakamaene
• Polish: poprawiać (pl) impf, poprawić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: retificar (pt)
• Romanian: rectifica (ro), corecta (ro)
• Russian: исправля́ть (ru) impf (ispravljátʹ), испра́вить (ru) pf (isprávitʹ)
• Spanish: rectificar (es), subsanar (es)
• Swedish: korrigera (sv)
• Turkish: düzeltmek (tr)

to correct someone who is mistaken

• Finnish: korjata (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

geodesy: to adjust in order to prepare for the solution of a proposed problem

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to convert alternating current into direct current

• Finnish: tasasuunnata (fi)
• Italian: rettificare (it)
• Polish: prostować (pl) impf
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: выпрямлять (ru) impf (vyprjamljatʹ)
• Swedish: likrikta

to produce by redistilling with flavourings

• Finnish: tislata (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• certify, cretify