reversion

[ ri-vur-zhuhn, -shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of turning something the reverse way.
2. the state of being so turned; reversal.
3. the act of reverting; return to a former practice, belief, condition, etc.
4. Biology.
   1. reappearance of ancestral characters that have been absent in intervening generations.
   2. return to an earlier or primitive type; atavism.
5. Law.
   1. the returning of an estate to the grantor or the grantor's heirs after the interest granted expires.
   2. an estate which so returns.
   3. the right of succeeding to an estate.
6. Archaic. the remains, especially of food or drink after a meal.

reversion

/ rɪˈvɜːʃən /

noun

1. a return to or towards an earlier condition, practice, or belief; act of reverting
2. the act of reversing or the state of being reversed; reversal
3. biology
   1. the return of individuals, organs, etc, to a more primitive condition or type
   2. the reappearance of primitive characteristics in an individual or group
4. property law
   1. an interest in an estate that reverts to the grantor or his heirs at the end of a period, esp at the end of the life of a grantee
   2. an estate so reverting
   3. the right to succeed to such an estate
5. the benefit payable on the death of a life-insurance policyholder

Derived Forms

• reˈversionary, adjective
• reˈversionally, adverb

Other Words From

• re·version·al·ly adverb
• nonre·version noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of reversion¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin reversiōn- (stem of reversiō ) a turning back. See reverse, -ion

Example Sentences

Wars have been fought with less intensity than the reversion battles on Wikipedia.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps that name should not be felt so ruefully today, despite the reversion to authoritarian control in Egypt.

From The Daily Beast

Next, perhaps an even more outrageous color will emerge, or maybe there will be a reversion back to something more natural.

From The Daily Beast

The evidence may be difficult to pin down, but it hovers in the atmosphere, making this reversion felt in myriad ways.

From The Daily Beast

The abnormality of club-foot may be pointed to as a reversion to the shape of the foot in the anthropoid apes.

From Project Gutenberg

Leeds had, more than twenty years before, obtained from Charles the Second a patent granting the reversion to Caermarthen.

From Project Gutenberg

That sad, though glorious reversion of our riper and darker years?

From Project Gutenberg

A suit in Chancery was proceeding, to enable him to sell, to his father, the reversion of a portion of his estates.

From Project Gutenberg

The threat of tariff war had called forth in the United States loud protests against any such reversion to economic barbarism.

From Project Gutenberg