/əˈɡɛn/, /əˈɡeɪn/, /eɪˈɡeɪn/
OriginFrom Middle English agayn, from Old English onġēan (“against, again”), from Proto-West Germanic *in gagin, from Proto-Germanic *in gagin. Cognate with German entgegen (“contrary to”), North Frisian ijen (“against”), Danish igen (“again”), Swedish igen (“again”), and Norwegian Bokmål igjen (“again”), and Icelandic í gegnum (“through”). By surface analysis, on- + gain (“against”).
- not-comparableAnother time: indicating a repeat of an action.
“I enjoyed it so much I went again the next day.”
“He tangled in tree-tops again and again / And barely missed hitting a tri-motored plane.”
“Johnny said, “Devil, just come on back if you ever want to try again / I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I’m the best that’s ever been.””
- not-comparableBack (to a former place or state).
“We need to bring the old customs to life again.”
“The South will rise again.”
“The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Our table in the dining-room became again the abo”
- not-comparableOver and above a factor of one.
“This stick is quite long, but that other one is half as long again.”
“Cirri l-lxxx, 15, about 12mm. long; first two joints short, about twice as broad as long; third about one-third again [=one and one-third times] as long as broad; fourth and fifth the longest, about h”
- not-comparableUsed metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion.
- not-comparableTell me again, say again; used in asking a question to which one may have already received an answer that one cannot remember.
“What's that called again?”
- not-comparableI ask again, I say again; used in repeating a question or statement.
“Again, I'm not criticizing, I just want to understand.”
- not-comparableHere too, here also, in this case as well; used in applying a previously made point to a new instance; sometimes preceded by "here".
“Approach B is better than approach A in many respects, but again, there are difficulties in implementing it.”
“A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.”
- not-comparable, obsoleteBack in the reverse direction, or to an original starting point.
“Bring us word again.”
“And after they were warned in ther slepe, that they shulde not go ageyne to Herod, they retourned into ther awne countre another way.”
- not-comparable, obsoleteIn return, as a reciprocal action; back.
“So women are never angrie, but to the end a man should againe be angrie with them, therein imitating the lawes of Love.”
“Thus men are plagued with women, they again with men, when they are of diverse humours and conditions[…].”
“As he lies in the light before a glaring white target, the black upon him shines again[…].”
- not-comparable, obsoleteIn any other place.
“There is not, in the world again, such a spring and seminary of brave military people as in England, Scotland, and Ireland.”
- not-comparable, obsoleteOn the other hand.
“The one is my sovereign[…]the other again is my kinsman.”
- not-comparableMoreover; besides; further.
“Again, it is of great consequence to avoid, etc.”
- dialectalAgainst.
“And here begynneth the treson of Kynge Marke that he ordayned agayne Sir Trystram.”
“Ah'd like to wahrn (warn) thi agaan 'evvin owt to dew wi' that chap.”
“You may think you are all on the same side, agin the government.”
Formsagen(alternative, obsolete) · againe(alternative, obsolete) · agayne(alternative, obsolete) · ageyne(alternative, obsolete) · agin(alternative, colloquial, dialectal) · ag'in(alternative, colloquial, dialectal) · 'gain(alternative, dialectal, poetic)