return

Verb

1. (intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).
2. (intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
3. (intransitive) To recur; to come again.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn back, retreat.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To turn (something) round.
6. (transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.
7. (transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.
8. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
9. (transitive) To reciprocate (a visit or telephone call).
10. (transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a complete or partial refund.
11. To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.
12. To play a card as a result of another player's lead.
13. To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
14. (transitive) To say in reply; to respond.
15. (intransitive) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
16. (transitive) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.
17. (dated, transitive) To retort; to throw back.
18. (transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.
19. (British, broadly, dated) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.
20. To give a thrust or cut after parrying a sword-thrust.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of returning.
2. (countable, uncountable) A return ticket.
3. (countable, uncountable) An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.
4. (countable, uncountable) An answer.
5. (countable, uncountable) An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
6. (countable, uncountable) Gain or loss from an investment.
7. (countable, uncountable) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return.
8. (countable, uncountable) A carriage return character.
9. (countable, uncountable) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
10. (countable, uncountable) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
11. (countable, uncountable) A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from a central plant).
12. (countable, uncountable) A roadway along which foul air travels from the face on its way out of the mine.
13. (countable, uncountable) A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
14. (countable, uncountable) The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
15. (countable, uncountable) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
16. (countable, uncountable) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹɪˈtɜːn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: returnen

In summary

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

Synonyms

come back

go back

give back

restore

turn back

send back

yield

revert

repay

render

reply

turn

coming back

bring back

refund

go home

comeback

income

pay back

restoration

retreat

returning

give

turn around

take back

repayment

relapse

recurrence

retort

come home

answer

restitution

recompense

recovery

put back

get back

repeat

🔁

reward

tax return

recur

going back

requite

profit

counter

retribution

payback

result

reflect

revenue

rebound

Translations

retourner

rendre

retour

revenir

regresar

volver

ritornare

devolver

zurückkehren

ritorno

restituire

retornar

zurückgeben

Rückkehr

powrót

Sentences

She knows that men have to go away in order to return .

He could sell the stones and buy a return ticket .

He decided to return to his friend's stable by the longest route possible .

Animal Man acquires the powers of Sun-Eaters, which he uses to return to Earth .

Price only barely managed to secure Davis's permission to return to Missouri-minus his troops .

The planet's core is made of solid gold , but every traveller attempting to recover some didn't return .