revert

American  

[ri-vurt] / rɪˈvɜrt /

verb (used without object)

• reverts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• reverted,
  past participle,  past
• reverting
  present participle

1. to return to a former habit, practice, belief, condition, etc..

   It wasn't so much that things had never changed, it was that people had reverted instead of moving forward.

   Synonyms:

   retrogress

2. Law. (of assets) to go back to or return to the former owner or to their heirs.

   After a certain number of years, ownership of the bridge reverts to the public.

3. Biology. to return to an earlier or primitive type.

   Synonyms:

   retrogress

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verb (used with object)

• reverts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• reverted,
  past participle,  past
• reverting
  present participle

1. to undo or roll back.

   The new version is a mess, but we should be able to revert the edits.

noun

1. an act or instance of returning to a former habit, practice, belief, condition, etc.; reversion.

   Now we are seeing a revert to a simpler writing style that grabs our attention instantly.

2. a person or thing that goes back to a previous state or condition, especially a previous religion (often used attributively).

   We offer a course for revert Muslims.

   She was a revert who left the church and came back a decade later.

3. Law. a reversion.

verb phrase

1. revert to

   1. to return or go back to a previous state or condition.

      After that, I stopped riding the bus and reverted to my old car-driving ways.

   2. to go back in thought or discussion.

      He constantly reverted to stories from his childhood.

revert British  

verb

1. to go back to a former practice, condition, belief, etc

   she reverted to her old wicked ways

2. to take up again or come back to a former topic

3. biology (of individuals, organs, etc) to return to a more primitive, earlier, or simpler condition or type

4. to reply to someone

   we will revert to you with pricing and other details

5. property law (of an estate or interest in land) to return to its former owner or his heirs when a grant, esp a grant for the lifetime of the grantee, comes to an end

6. to resume characteristics that were thought to have disappeared

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noun

1. a person who, having been converted, has returned to his former beliefs or Church

Usage

Since back is part of the meaning of revert , one should not say that someone reverts back to a certain type of behaviour

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reverter
  noun
• revertibility
  noun
• nonrevertible
  adjective
• nonrevertive
  adjective
• revertible
  adjective
• revertive
  adjective
• unreverted
  adjective
• unrevertible
  adjective
• unreverting
  adjective
• revertively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• reverting
  present
• reverted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• revert
  simple
• reverts
  simple
• have reverted
  perfect
• has reverted
  perfect
• am reverting
  progressive
• are reverting
  progressive
• is reverting
  progressive
• have been reverting
  perfect progressive
• has been reverting
  perfect progressive

Past

• reverted
  simple
• had reverted
  perfect
• was reverting
  progressive
• were reverting
  progressive
• had been reverting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will revert
  simple
• will have reverted
  perfect
• will be reverting
  progressive
• will have been reverting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of revert

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English reverten, from Old French revertir, Anglo-French reverter, from Latin revertere “to turn back,” from re- re- + vertere “to turn” ( cf. verse)

Explanation

While revert means to return to something earlier or to go back, it's often used wrongly in combination. If you're buying the older version of the game, you might say you're "reverting back," which is like saying "go back back." Revert has been around since the early 14th century, and it has changed little in meaning from the original "turn back" and "return." You can revert to a simpler way of life or revert to bad behavior. Software users might revert to an older version of a program with fewer bugs. Though rare in modern use, some international English speakers do use "revert back" for "reply" in writing and e-mail, but most of the time, using revert with "back" is redundant, or repetitive.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

revert reverts reverted reverting

Cyclical businesses don’t tend to revert to normal, often reverting to losses, and so he argues, “the time to buy a cyclical business is when they’re making losses, not when they’re making super profits.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

Next year, the opening race is set to revert to Bahrain after two years in Australia as a result of the timing of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Fable 5 will revert to the older Opus 4.8 for sensitive queries related to cybersecurity or biological research, removing dangerous capabilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

For his sake, they likely will revert to imploring Angels owner Arte Moreno to “sell the team” soon enough.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

Just as you revert to being about nine years old when you go home to visit your parents, you revert to total subordination when you are in the presence of your former CEO.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Second, it is unclear whether the Strait of Hormuz reverts to an international waterway—the transit for a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil—or whether it remains under the control of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026

But he warms right up again when she reverts to Korean to assure him she can pay for the trouble he’s created.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026

The company this week instead published a Gauge report for February that reverts to the earlier methodology.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

“There is also a real risk that talks break down and the conflict reverts to its previous state, or even escalates further, once the cease-fire window expires,” Hathorn wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 8, 2026

Maybe this is the last "becoming American" move Didu needs to make before she reverts back to her old self.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

But within just a few months, I’d reverted to my old habits—immediately glancing at and engaging with every ping and alert, and reflexively picking up my phone to scroll through my rotation of go-to websites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

The strategy bought the market at that point and held until the market reverted to that mean.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

For Friday’s U.S.–Australia match, the network reverted to full-screen ads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

Only a few days after the pool was refilled, though, it reverted what it always is: a filthy slime pit that nevertheless does an adequate job of its primary objective: reflecting.

From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2026

In the past few days Clara had reverted to her visionary tasks, speaking with apparitions and spending hours writing in her notebooks.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

The new terms fuel fee growth in the second half of this year and the first half of 2027 before annualizing and reverting to a typical high-single-digit percentage growth rate, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Yet she argues those moments are often temporary, with Islanders reverting "back to the expected gender roles".

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Some analysts argue he’s now reverting to his true nature.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

Gyllenhaal has done the latter, it seems, reverting to flattened characters who don’t require bold artistic leaps or personal attachment, and thus don’t cause heartbreak if a film underperforms.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

It seems bent on reverting to orange no matter how many times I cover it.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Related Words

• degenerate
• go back
• hark back
• react
• regress
• turn back