reincarnation
/ˌriːɪnkɑːˈneɪʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1The rebirth of a soul in another body.He was a great thinker, and he taught that eating meat was wrong because of the principles of transmigration of souls, or reincarnation....
- Displaying an incredible amount of maturity and wisdom for their young age, these kids share their most inner thoughts and reveal their deepest beliefs on death, reincarnation and the afterlife.
- Oddly enough, his belief in reincarnation was brought to Cuba by American missionaries from the American Theosophical Society.
Synonyms
rebirth, transmigration of the soul, metempsychosis;
Hinduism & Buddhism samsara
rare transanimation
1.1 [count noun] A person or animal in whom a particular soul is believed to have been reborn: he believed he was the reincarnation of Louis XVI...
- The Dalai Lama was believed to be a reincarnation of Buddha.
- Some Hindus in Nepal even worship him as a reincarnation of the deity Vishnu.
- She looked like a reincarnation of Isis herself.
1.2 [count noun] A new version of something from the past: the latest reincarnation of the hippie look...
- The producer of the present production is Mr Hobbs, and he has been associated with this show in many of its reincarnations in the past.
- He believed that Baptists represented a reincarnation of apostolic Christianity, the truest expression of the faith that had become corrupted during the second century with the introduction of infant baptism.
- Southern armies thus became more than a reincarnation of Norman knights; they strove to be the military arm of God, just as the Roundheads of old had been.