restore

To make a lost feeling, ability, or situation exist or work again.

• The police restored order.
• A good night’s sleep restored her energy.
• The repair should restore power to the village.

Similar words: bring back, reestablish

Common phrases: restore order, restore confidence, restore someone’s sight

To return something to its earlier condition, often by repairing it.

• They restored the old house.
• She is restoring a damaged painting.
• The hall has been restored to its former beauty.

How to use it: restore something to something (They restored the house to its original condition.)

Similar words: renovate, repair

Common phrases: restore a building, restore a painting, restore something to something

To bring saved information back to a computer after it has been lost or damaged.

• You can restore the deleted files.
• We restored the system from yesterday’s backup.
• Has the software restored all your photos?

How to use it: restore something from something (We restored the files from a backup.)

Similar words: recover

Common phrases: restore a backup, restore deleted files, restore from backup

To return something or someone to the person or place they belong to.

• The court restored her property.
• The lost child was restored to his family.
• They demanded that their land be restored to them.

How to use it: restore someone/something to someone (The stolen painting was restored to its owner.)

Similar words: return, give back

Common phrases: restore something to someone, restore stolen property, restore someone’s rights

The process of bringing saved information or a saved system back to a computer.

• The restore took an hour.
• We tested a full restore of the database.
• Did the system restore recover your settings?

Similar words: recovery, restoration

Common phrases: system restore, full restore, backup and restore