Rarely, but sometimes, you hear someone use the word reiterate. That may be because it is not needed when the verb iterate will do just fine. Reiterate has noodled its way into our language a little bit at a time until it now appears more frequently.
Iterate means to do over again, so to distinguish between iterate and reiterate, the use of reiterate has come to mean to do something over and over again. But both iterate and reiterate mean to do something over again. Iterate comes from the Latin word iterum, meaning, again. There is a Latin equivalent in reiterare, meaning repeat.
“We would like to reiterate the importance of submitting an application before the deadline to avoid any inconvenience.”
“As they develop the prototype, they will iterate on the design to ensure it meets all the user requirements.”
“As we iterate on the product design, we want to reiterate the importance of keeping the client’s preferences in mind.”
Fetter means to hinder someone or something from happening. Historically, it might have indicated that someone had been shackled around the ankles. Today I believe you are more likely to use or hear the word shackled than fettered in law enforcement. Fetter seem to be used to indicate hindering someone in other ways.
“The new and excessive regulations only fetter the company’s ability to innovate and expand into new markets.”
“The lack of funds began to fetter the business’s ability to pursue ambitious projects.”
“Fear of failure can often fetter a person’s ability to take steps toward success.”
Putting these two together in a single sentence is not easy, but with a little effort and trial and error, we managed it.
“I want to reiterate that unnecessary restrictions can fetter the growth and success of our company.”
As the project team iterates a new strategy, they must ensure that outdated practices do not fetter our progress.”
“The DOGE team must iterate quickly on their savings without allowing bureaucratic processes to fetter their creativity and changes.”
