Returning

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɜːnɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Moving back to a previous location or state ; sending or giving something back to where it started or belongs
2. Coming again to a previous position, condition, or situation ; causing an item or person to go back to its earlier place or state
3. Going back to a prior spot or condition ; returning an object or individual to its original source or owner

Etymology: "Returning" is the present participle of "return", so its history is that of the verb. The verb arrived in English in the Middle Ages from the French "retourner", which in turn came from the Medieval Latin "retornare", meaning "to turn back". Its two parts are the prefix "re-", meaning "back" or "again", and "turn", from Latin "tornare", "to turn" on a lathe or wheel. Before "return" took over, English had a native verb for the idea, "eftcierran", which literally meant "eft-char", with "eft" meaning "again" and "cierran" meaning "to turn". The borrowed French-derived word displaced it, so the older English sense of turning back again survives in the imported form.

Synonyms: coming back, reverting

Antonyms: departing, leaving