return ticket

American

noun

a ticket for the return portion of a trip.
Chiefly British. a round-trip ticket.

return ticket British

noun

US and Canadian equivalent: round-trip ticket. a ticket entitling a passenger to travel to his destination and back again

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of return ticket

First recorded in 1840–50

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.

California law mandates that licensed rehab facilities offer patients a return ticket home if they had provided travel to the state.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

BBC Scotland has compared that information with the cost of the cheapest off-peak return ticket available on that route today.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2023

“After I landed, I threw the return ticket away,” recalls Stevens, a retired publicist from Philadelphia.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 26, 2023

He had a return ticket to Los Angeles for December.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2022

I had a return ticket in my boot for St. Louis to Marshall, but that wasn't gonna do any good in Canada.

From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023