1. A return to an earlier state
   "His behaviour showed a reversion to childish habits";
   - regression, regress, retrogression, retroversion
    
2. Turning in the opposite direction
   "The company's financial reversion was unexpected";
   - reverse, reversal, turnabout [N. Amer], turnaround
    
3. A reappearance of an earlier characteristic
   "The child's sixth toe was considered a reversion";
   - atavism, throwback
    
4. A failure to maintain a higher state
   "His reversion into old habits disappointed his mentor";
   - backsliding, lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reverting
    
5. (genetics) a return to a normal phenotype (usually resulting from a second mutation)
   "The reversion of the mutant strain to its wild-type form surprised the researchers"
    
6. (law) an interest in an estate that reverts to the grantor (or their heirs) at the end of some period (e.g., the death of the grantee)
   "The lease agreement included a reversion clause returning the property to the original owner after 99 years"

Derived forms: reversions

Type of: change of direction, chromosomal mutation, failure, genetic mutation, interest, mutation, recurrence, reoccurrence, reorientation, return, reversal, stake

Encyclopedia: Reversion