From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrehabilitatere‧ha‧bil‧i‧tate /ˌriːhəˈbɪlɪteɪt/ verb [transitive] 1 MHSEto help someone to live a healthy, useful, or active life again after they have been seriously ill or in prison a special unit for rehabilitating stroke patients2 GOOD ENOUGHto make people think that someone or something is good again after a period when people had a bad opinion of them The prime minister seems to be trying to rehabilitate the former defence secretary.3 TBCIMPROVEto improve a building or area so that it returns to the good condition it was in before → renovate A lot of the older houses have now been rehabilitated. —rehabilitation /ˌriːhəbɪlɪˈteɪʃən/ noun [uncountable] the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
rehabilitate• Eight months later it was announced that Nagy and his colleagues were to be rehabilitated.• The main hospital was rehabilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.• Elizabeth Fry had to struggle hard to prove that women could be rehabilitated, hence the wonder at her achievements in Newgate.• After surgery, he must rehabilitate his leg to develop the strength necessary to once again be an explosive runner.• Nixon devoted his two decades on the sidelines to rehabilitating his professional reputation with ponderous books and interviews about foreign policy.• Many analysts said the interview was an obvious attempt by Salinas, who now lives in Ireland, to rehabilitate his reputation.• That, he said, suggests better opportunities for diagnosing nerve damage, and better chances for rehabilitating injured patients.• The city will be using some of its tax dollars to rehabilitate its downtown area.• Programs have been established to help young adults rehabilitate or achieve their potential.• Deaver devised the campaign to rehabilitate the First Lady's image.• He was released in 1960 and rehabilitated three years later.• This fund was set up to help to help rehabilitate victims of landminesOrigin rehabilitate (1500-1600) Medieval Latin past participle of rehabilitare, from Latin habilitas “ability” 