return
noun
Return — the act of coming back to a place, role, or state once left
Definition
The act of someone appearing again; "his reappearance as Hamlet has been long awaited"
In depth
Return is the act of someone or something appearing again, the coming back to a place, condition, or role previously occupied and then departed from. The word names one of the most universal narrative patterns, the journey out and the journey back, central to myth, memoir, and ordinary life alike.
Origin
The word descends from Old French retourner, to turn back, formed from re- (back) and tourner (to turn). That image of turning back remains the word's essential logic, suggesting that every return is, at its root, a reversal of direction, a retracing of a path once taken outward.
Usage examples
"His return after the war was nothing like the homecoming he had imagined during all those long months away."
"She marked her return to writing with a single, deceptively simple poem."
"The salmon's return upstream to spawn remains one of nature's most demanding annual journeys."
How to use it
Return is universally useful across nearly every genre and register, deeply embedded in narrative structure itself, from the hero's journey to the simple, recurring rhythms of daily and seasonal life.
Related concepts
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