Rehashing

Rehashing involves presenting old ideas, arguments, or materials again, often with minor alterations or superficial repackaging. It implies a lack of originality or fresh perspective. The act focuses on recycling and re-presenting pre-existing content, scenarios, or concepts without offering new insights, developments, or substantial modifications. Often, it suggests that the topic has already been extensively explored. It can be considered negative when used in a critical context. While the content itself could be perfectly valid, the rehashing suggests it is being repeated unnecessarily.

Rehashing meaning with examples

• The political debate felt like rehashing the same tired talking points from decades ago. Each candidate simply repeated pre-existing stances. The audience groaned as the discussion circles kept returning to the same old, largely unproductive arguments. It felt like a tedious rehash of familiar phrases and historical arguments.
• The novel, unfortunately, was nothing more than rehashing well-worn tropes of the fantasy genre, failing to provide anything new or innovative. All the same locations, all the same enemies, same plot lines. Even though the author tried to change things up, it's still a rehashing.
• The film's plot was accused of being a rehashing of classic science fiction stories, with familiar characters and predictable twists. Viewers felt as if they had seen it all before, because they had. Despite the impressive visuals, the story offered little that was original, making the experience feel stale.
• After the company restructure, many employees felt that the new training materials were simply rehashing old information, presented in a different format. There was little new to learn and many employees felt that their time was wasted by this rehashing of known information.
• The professor's lectures frequently slipped into rehashing his previous articles, failing to introduce any fresh research or scholarly debates on the subject. Students found the class boring and uninspiring, since all that was taught were repeated ideas, rehashing old material, failing to offer more than a basic understanding of the subject.