adjective
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able to be taken, given, or sent back
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required to be returned by law, as a claim to the court from which it issued
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of returnable
1375–1425; 1960–65 returnable for def. 3; late Middle English retournable. See return, -able
Explanation
Anything returnable can be sent or taken back. When you buy a returnable sweater at the mall, you have the option to take it to the store and get your money back if you decide you don't look good in purple. A returnable bottle is one that you can take back to the store and trade in for a little money after you've used or consumed its contents. And when booksellers carry returnable magazines, they can send the unsold copies back to the vendor for credit. When things are returnable, you are literally able to return them.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Drs Ledesma-Amaro and Shamsul have sent small amounts of the yeast concoction to orbit the Earth in a small cube satellite on board Europe's first commercial returnable spacecraft, Phoenix.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025
“Any version of a 2020 rover mission that does not prepare a returnable cache would seriously delay any significant progress toward sample return,” it noted.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 30, 2023
I buy milk in returnable glass bottles, and I take jars to places where I can get cooking oil in bulk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
Loop, for example, helps its corporate clients set up the "reverse logistics" infrastructure that forms the backbone of returnable packaging systems.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2023
They were interchangeable from base to base, like returnable bottles.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
