revendicate

/rɪˈvɛndɪkeɪt/

revendicate means to reclaim; to demand the restoration of (something) as a right, or to maintain a claim to (a property or right) that has been withheld. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.

revendicate is pronounced /rɪˈvɛndɪkeɪt/.

Why “revendicate” is a great word

To demand back, with legalistic force, what one asserts is rightfully one's own, be it land, title, or abstract privilege. From French *revendiquer*, from Middle French, probably from *re-* (expressing intensive force) + *vendiquer* (to lay claim to), from Latin *vindicāre* (to claim, avenge). Doublet of *revenge*. First attested in English in 1760 in E. de Vattel's 'Law of Nations'. Unlike "reclaim," which suggests a simple recovery, or "vindicate," which clears a name, to revendicate is to mount a formal, paper-backed assault for restitution. It is the stamped petition delivered to the usurping government, the lawyer's precise letter citing obscure statutes, the quiet, unyielding fury of one who knows the deed is in their name—the cold machinery of justice invoked to make memory a matter of record.

Etymology

Compare French revendiquer. Doublet of revenge.

verb

To reclaim; to demand the restoration of (something) as a right, or to maintain a claim to (a property or right) that has been withheld.“And the alienation of any of its possessions by the conqueror is valid and irretrievable. Should some subsequent fortunate revolution deliver it from the conqueror's yoke, it can revendicate them.”