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As far as I know there are two different meanings of the word "reset":

  • to restore an object/value to a previous/initial state - that's the most widely use of the word; 
  • to set the value/state a second time.

But, is it common to use "reset" with the second meaning? For me it makes more sense to distinguish the two meanings by using "re-set" on the second one. But, does "re-set" even exist?

For example, what would be most acceptable in the following examples?

The thermostat is now set to 20 ºC. You can make it colder or warmer by resetting/re-setting it [to a different value].

"Production stop" works simply by resetting/re-setting the end time [to a different value but not to the default one].

Community
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djeidot
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  • I would not use reset in that sentence. I would write: The thermostat is now set to 20 ºC. You can make it colder by setting it to 17 ºC. – mikeY Jul 11 '12 at 16:17
  • possible duplicate of When is it necessary to use a hyphen in writing a compound word? – Daniel Jul 11 '12 at 16:17
  • @mikeY yes but I would like to stress that I'm setting the value again. – djeidot Jul 11 '12 at 16:18
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    @djeidot Obviously I don't have your full context, but I would think that in at least many situations setting the thermostat to 17 would be considered a new setting not in need of a re in any form. I guess I can see "re-resetting" on the horizon and would worry about trying to capture too much information in a prefix. – mikeY Jul 11 '12 at 16:30
  • I added another example and changed the other one a bit to better illustrate what I'm trying to do. – djeidot Jul 11 '12 at 16:35
  • I'll run the risk of getting negative votes and say I still wouldn't use reset in your second sentence. Given a machine that did things according to different positions of a knob, I would say "You can set it to 1 to make bubbles and 2 to make puppies. Set it to 0 to turn it off." To me the fact that it was at some setting before moving it to the new directed setting is assumed. I may be setting the machine to level 2 again, but I am also just setting it to level 2. Perhaps you could write around it and use that structure: "'Production stop' works by simply setting the end time again." – mikeY Jul 11 '12 at 16:57
  • Does this answer your question? Is it "re-offend" or "reoffend"? – Edwin Ashworth Aug 18 '20 at 11:53

2 Answers2

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I would suggest that you can avoid the confusion by using the word "change" in your first example, and "update" in your second one both of which would convey your meaning while sounding more natural.

Christi
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  • In most instances where "reset" does not mean "return to default or previous state" It is probably more clear to choose one of the alternatives like "update", "change", or even "set (it) again" – TecBrat Jul 11 '12 at 17:37
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    When "reset" does mean "return to default or previous state", revert sometimes is nicer than reset. – James Waldby - jwpat7 Jul 11 '12 at 18:19
  • That doesn't answer the main question: "Reset" or "re-set"? – Gigili May 15 '20 at 10:40
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Reset has rather more than two meanings. To try to differentiate between them by using an arbitrary piece of punctuation risks creating confusion rather than clarity. The entries for the word in the OED as both noun and verb have no hyphen.

Barrie England
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