Word of the Day Archive
Friday May 4, 2007
redound \rih-DOWND\ , intransitive verb:
1. To have a consequence or effect.
2. To return; to rebound; to reflect.
3. To become added or transferred; to accrue.
Even if we don't officially round them up, as we did with Japanese Americans in World War II, the unofficial acts of meanness and hatred against those who look like our blood enemies are likely to redound to our shame.
-- William Raspberry, "Worse to Come", Washington Post, September 15, 2001
Women are so inclined to vote Democratic that a Republican drive to get out the women's vote may actually redound to the Democrats' advantage.
-- Ruth Conniff, "No more angry feminists", The Progressive, October 1, 1996
The Kemp Commission tracked three periods of reduced taxation in this century. Each was followed by an economic boom that redounded to the benefit of the entire society.
-- Mona Charen, "You Can't Punish the Rich Without Hurting the Rest of Us", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1996
O'Sullivan busied himself writing would-be contributors, outlining his plan for the enterprise and how its glory would redound to all associated with the project.
-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America
Redound, originally "to be in excess or to overflow," derives from Latin redundare, "to overflow, to be in abundance or excess," from re- + unda, "wave."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for redound
