verb (used without object)
- to return to a former habit, practice, belief, condition, etc.: They reverted to the ways of their forefathers.
- Law. to go back to or return to the former owner or to his or her heirs.
- Biology. to return to an earlier or primitive type.
- to go back in thought or discussion: He constantly reverted to his childhood.
noun
- a person or thing that reverts.
- Law. a reversion.
verb (rɪˈvɜːt) (intr foll by to)
- to go back to a former practice, condition, belief, etcshe reverted to her old wicked ways
- to take up again or come back to a former topic
- biology (of individuals, organs, etc) to return to a more primitive, earlier, or simpler condition or type
- US to reply to someonewe will revert to you with pricing and other details
- 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
- revert to type to resume characteristics that were thought to have disappeared
noun (ˈriːˌvɜːt)
- a person who, having been converted, has returned to his former beliefs or Church
c.1300, “to come to oneself again,” from Old French revertir “return, change back,” from Vulgar Latin *revertire, variant of Latin revertere “turn back, turn about; come back, return,” from re- “back” (see re-) + vertere “to turn” (see versus). Of position or property from mid-15c.; application to customs and ideas is from 1610s.
v.
- To return to a former condition, practice, subject, or belief.
- To undergo genetic reversion.