return

noun

The act of returning.

A return ticket.

(business) An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect.

An answer.

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.

Gain or loss from an investment.

(taxation, finance) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return.

(computing) A carriage return character.

(computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.

(computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.

A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from a central plant).

(mining) A roadway along which foul air travels from the face on its way out of the mine.

A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.

(American football) The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.

(cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.

(architecture) 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.

verb

(intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).

(intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

(intransitive) To recur; to come again.

(transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.

(transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.

To give in requital or recompense; to requite.

(transitive) To reciprocate (a visit or telephone call).

(transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a complete or partial refund.

(tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

(card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

(cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.

(transitive) To say in reply; to respond.

(intransitive, computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.

(transitive, computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

(transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.

(fencing) To give a thrust or cut after parrying a sword-thrust.

(transitive, dated) To retort; to throw back.

(British, by extension, dated in the US) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.

(intransitive, obsolete) To turn back, retreat.

(transitive, obsolete) To turn (something) round.

Roots

torno-turn · Latin · turn

Synonyms & related words for return

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of return — including revert, comeback, refund, rejoin, reappearance, homecoming. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to return

Explore words related to return — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include irremeable, repay, regaining, unreturnable, revertible, unreturned, nonreturnable, returnable. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for return

Common synonyms for return include revert, comeback, refund, rejoin, reappearance, homecoming, restitution, regress — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does return come from?

The word return breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root -turn, from Latin torno (“turn”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.