repost
/ree-POHST/verb · noun
Meaning
To repost is to publish, share, or upload content again after it has already appeared online. The content may be your own or someone else’s, and a repost may use a platform’s built-in sharing feature or a fresh upload that duplicates the original. As a noun, a repost is the repeated post or the act of sharing it again.
- 1. To publish one of your own earlier posts, images, videos, or articles again.
- 2. To share or upload content originally posted by another person.
- 3. A post or piece of content that has been published again.
Examples
“I’m going to repost the clip because half the group missed it.”
“Please repost this with the original creator tagged.”
“That meme is a repost from 2019.”
“Repost if you still remember this sound.”
“I deleted the repost after the caption got misread.”
Origin and spread
Repost combines the prefix re-, meaning “again,” with post, meaning to publish or place content online. The general verb is recorded much earlier than social media: Merriam-Webster gives a first known use of 1864, while the Online Etymology Dictionary records “to post again” by 1963 in reference to letters. The internet sense was circulating by August 5, 1994, when an online message asked forum operators to repost a note, and it appears clearly in a January 16, 1995 TIME report about reposting deleted Usenet material. Later platforms made reposting a named, one-click sharing action; X distinguishes reposts from quote posts, while TikTok uses Repost for sharing videos into followers’ or friends’ feeds.[1][3]
How to use it
Repost is neutral and widely understood online, but its exact mechanics depend on the platform. A native repost usually preserves the original account’s attribution and link, while a manual reupload can look like a new post and may be criticized if it removes credit. On X, RT is a related older marker for sharing or quoting another user’s post, not a complete synonym for every platform’s Repost button.
Sources
- 1. Online Etymology Dictionary — Repost: Etymology, Origin & MeaningSupports: form, origin.
- 2. Andrew P. Dinsdale — Commercial Use of the Net WWW Page (New Versions)Supports: earliest documented use.
- 3. TIME — Netwatch (16 Jan 1995)Supports: origin.
