ENGLISH
REFERENCE

revert

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ɹiˈvɝt// UK //ɹɪvˈɜːt// re·vert Archaic

v. to go back to a previous state, habit, or way of doing things. You use this when something changes back to how it was before.

v. to return to a former condition, practice, or subject. Intransitive — typically takes the preposition 'to' before the target state.


SIMPLE

The system will revert to its original settings after you restart it.

CONTEXTUAL

After trying the new software for a week, the team decided to revert to their old workflow because it was faster.

COMPLEX

Despite several years of economic growth, the region began to revert to its previous state of instability following the sudden collapse of the local currency.

Synonyms
Origin

From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.

Usage

The verb is intransitive and almost always requires the preposition 'to' when indicating the previous state.

Pitfall

revert back torevert toUsing 'back' with 'revert' is redundant because the prefix 're-' already carries the meaning of returning to a previous state.

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