revert
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to go back to a previous way of behaving, working, or being.
v.to return to a former condition, practice, or habit. Intransitive; typically takes the preposition 'to'.
Simple“After the holiday, he quickly reverted to his old habit of waking up late.”
In context“Without consistent maintenance, the garden will eventually revert to its natural, overgrown state within a single season.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to start talking or thinking about a subject you were discussing before.
v.to return to a previous topic of discussion or thought.
Simple“Let us revert to the original question about the budget.”
In context“The chairman requested that the committee revert to the main agenda once the minor points were settled.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
v.when property or money goes back to its original owner.
v.to return to the possession of a former owner or their heirs. Intransitive; used in property and inheritance contexts.
Simple“If the company closes, the land will revert to the local government.”
In context“Under the terms of the trust, the estate will revert to the surviving descendants if no immediate heir is identified.”
Synonymsescheat - 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to answer a message or email.
v.to reply to a piece of correspondence or a query. Common in South Asian and Southeast Asian business English.
Simple“I will check the files and revert to you by tomorrow morning.”
In context“The consultant promised to revert with a detailed proposal once the initial data had been reviewed by the technical team.”
UsageCommonly used in the phrase 'revert to you' meaning 'get back to you'.
Teacher's tipThis usage is standard in Indian and Singaporean business English but may be considered non-standard or confusing in British or American English.
- 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to return to a religion you followed before, or to join Islam.
v.to return to a former religion; specifically used by some to describe converting to Islam based on the belief that all are born with a natural faith.
Simple“He decided to revert to the faith of his childhood after many years.”
In context“The community welcomed the new members who had chosen to revert after studying the theology for several months.”
Synonyms - 06 C2 Proficiency
v.when a plant or animal starts showing traits from its ancestors again.
v.to return to an earlier or primitive type; to take on the traits of an ancestral type.
Simple“The variegated plant might revert to plain green if it does not get enough light.”
In context“Selective breeding is required to ensure the species does not revert to its wild-type characteristics over successive generations.”
Synonymsatavism - 07 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the act of changing a computer file or database back to how it was before.
n.the act of returning a database, source control repository, or software state to a previous version.
Simple“The developer performed a revert to fix the errors caused by the last update.”
In context“After the deployment failed, the system administrator initiated a full revert to the last stable build to minimize downtime.”
From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.