As far as I know there are two different meanings of the word "reset":

  • to restore an object/value to a previous/initial state - that's the most widely use of the word; 
  • to set the value/state a second time.

But, is it common to use "reset" with the second meaning? For me it makes more sense to distinguish the two meanings by using "re-set" on the second one. But, does "re-set" even exist?

For example, what would be most acceptable in the following examples?

The thermostat is now set to 20 ºC. You can make it colder or warmer by resetting/re-setting it [to a different value].

"Production stop" works simply by resetting/re-setting the end time [to a different value but not to the default one].


Solution 1:

I would suggest that you can avoid the confusion by using the word "change" in your first example, and "update" in your second one both of which would convey your meaning while sounding more natural.

Solution 2:

Reset has rather more than two meanings. To try to differentiate between them by using an arbitrary piece of punctuation risks creating confusion rather than clarity. The entries for the word in the OED as both noun and verb have no hyphen.