Redress: Definition, Usage & Correcting Injustice

Meaning 1：correct an injustice (redress)

redress 🔊

/rɪˈdres/

vt.

To correct or make right something wrong or unfair, like fixing a mistake or an injustice.

Redress meaning illustrated: a hand holding a phone showing a salary adjustment email, symbolizing correcting a financial injustice.

correct an injustice 🔊

➕

/kəˈrekt ən ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs/

vt.

To fix or make right something that is unfair, wrong, or erroneous, often in a formal or legal context.

📁 Category：Laws & Regulations 🔖 Level：intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From 're-' meaning 'again' + 'dress' from Latin 'directus', meaning to straighten or set right.

💡 Mnemonic

Think of 're-dress' as dressing a wound again to fix it, symbolizing correction of a mistake.

📖 Example

After discovering the payroll error, the company immediately redressed the mistake by depositing the owed salary into all affected employees' accounts. 🔊 Upon finding the payroll mistake, the company promptly corrected it by paying the owed salaries to all impacted employees.

🔗 Collocations

redress the balance – to restore fairness or equilibrium

seek redress – to look for correction or compensation for a wrong

redress grievances – to address and correct complaints or injustices

🔄 Synonyms

rectify (vt.) – to correct or put right something

remedy (vt.) – to provide a solution for a problem or wrong

amend (vt.) – to make minor changes to correct or improve

🚫 Antonyms

perpetuate (vt.) – to make something continue indefinitely, especially something bad

aggravate (vt.) – to make a problem or situation worse

🌱 Derivatives

redressal (n.) – the act of redressing or correcting

📖 Cultural Story

Derived from Latin via Anglo-French, meaning to set right again. Commonly used in legal and formal contexts to denote correcting injustices or grievances, such as in 'redress a wrong'.