revert
revert Lexical Profile
revert Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To return to a previous state, practice, topic, or condition.
"After the temporary detour was removed, traffic reverted to its normal route through the town center."
To restore a computer file, database, or software system to an earlier saved version.
"When the latest update caused a system crash, the developers quickly reverted the codebase to the previous stable release."
To return to the original owner, their heirs, or the state (of property, rights, or a title in law).
"Under the terms of the lease, ownership of the building will revert to the city after ninety-nine years."
British To reply or respond to someone in business correspondence.
"I will review the contract with our legal team and revert to you by Friday morning."
• noun
A person who returns to a former belief, practice, or religion; in Islam, a person who converts to the faith (regarded as returning to an innate state of spiritual submission).
"The community center hosts weekly study groups to support new reverts as they learn daily prayers."
A domesticated animal or cultivated plant that returns to a wild, feral, or ancestral state.
"If left unpruned, the grafted rosebush may produce a revert from the rootstock below the graft union."
Word Nuance & Usage
Because the prefix 're-' already means 'back,' the phrase 'revert back' is often criticized by style guides as redundant; in formal writing, 'revert to' is preferred.
• Rhymes for revert
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 14th century from Old French revertir, from Latin revertere ('to turn back'), formed from re- ('back') and vertere ('to turn').