[uh-gen, uh-geyn] 
| 1. | once more; another time; anew; in addition: Will you spell your name again, please? |
| 2. | in an additional case or instance; moreover; besides; furthermore. |
| 3. | on the other hand: It might happen, and again it might not. |
| 4. | back; in return; in reply: to answer again. |
| 5. | to the same place or person: to return again. |
| 6. | again and again, with frequent repetition; often: They went over the same arguments again and again. |
| 7. | as much again, twice as much: She earns as much again as I do. |
[uh-gen] , with the same vowel heard in yet and pep. The pronunciation [uh-geyn], rhyming with pain, occurs chiefly in the Atlantic states. Again said as [uh-gin], with the vowel of pit or sip, or with a vowel somewhere between [e] and [i], is the common pronunciation in much of the South, where [e] and [i] tend to become neutralized, or more like one another, before [m] and [n], leading to a lack of noticeable distinction between such pairs as pen and pin, ten and tin. | a·gain (ə-gěn') adv.
[Middle English (influenced by Old Norse i gegn, again), from Old English ongeagn, against.] |
again and again
Repeatedly, often, as in I've told you again and again, don't turn up the heat. This idiom uses repetition for the purpose of emphasis (as does its synonym, over and over). Shakespeare used it in Othello (1:3): "I have told thee often, and I retell thee again and again." [c. 1600]