If someone rewrites a piece of writing such as a book, an article, or a law, they write it in a different way in order to improve it.

If you accuse a government of rewriting history, you are criticizing them for selecting and presenting particular historical events in a way that suits their own purposes.

When journalists say that a sports player has rewritten the record books or the history books, they mean that the player has broken a record or several records.

In the film and television industries, a rewrite is the writing of parts of a film again in order to improve it.