Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Reconstruction \Re`con*struc"tion\ (-str?k"sh?n), n.
   1. The act of constructing again; the state of being
      reconstructed.

   2. (U.S. Politics) The act or process of reorganizing the
      governments of the States which had passed ordinances of
      secession, and of re["e]stablishing their constitutional
      relations to the national government, after the close of
      the Civil War.

Source : WordNet®

Reconstruction
     n 1: the period after the Civil War in the United States when the
          southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into
          the Union; 1865-1877 [syn: {Reconstruction Period}]
     2: the activity of constructing something again
     3: an interpretation formed by piecing together bits of
        evidence
     4: recall that is hypothesized to work by storing abstract
        features which are then used to construct the memory
        during recall [syn: {reconstructive memory}]