Adjective: returning ri'tur-ning
- Tending to be turned back
"The returning flow of the tide began as the moon rose";
- reversive
- Tending to return to an earlier state
"The abandoned farmland was returning to its natural forested state";
- reverting
- Go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
"return to your native land"; "the professor returned to his teaching position after serving as Dean"
- Give back
"return money";
- render
- Go back to a previous state
"We returned to the old rules";
- revert, retrovert [rare], regress, turn back
- Bring back to the point of departure
"Please return the book to the library";
- take back, bring back
- Go back to something earlier
"This returns to a previous remark of his";
- hark back, come back, recall
- Pay back
"He returned the loan with interest";
- refund, repay, give back
- Give or supply
"The estate returns some revenue for the family";
- render, yield, give, generate
- Submit (a report, etc.) to someone in authority
"Gov. Chris Christie has returned a bill to the New Jersey Assembly on increased gun regulations"
- Return in kind
"return a compliment"; "return her love"
- Respond in a quick, clever or humorous way
"She returned with a witty comeback to his insult";
- retort, come back, riposte, rejoin
- (football) make a return
"return a kickback"
- Elect again
"The voters returned the incumbent to office";
- reelect, re-elect
- Be inherited by
"The land returned to the family";
- fall, pass, devolve
- Be restored
"Her old vigour returned";
- come back
- Pass down
"return a verdict";
- render, deliver
See also: backward, regressive
Type of: answer, bring, carry, change hands, change owners, communicate, convey, create, denote, elect, give, go, locomote, make, move, pass, pass along, pass on, pay, produce, put across, reappear, reciprocate, re-emerge, refer, reply, respond, reverse, submit, take, transport, travel, turn
Encyclopedia: Returning
Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation