come back

See also: comeback, Comeback, come-back, and Come-back

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Verb

come back (third-person singular simple present comes back, present participle coming back, simple past came back, past participle come back)

1. (intransitive) To return to a place.
   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real.

2. (intransitive) To return to one's possession, especially of memories.

   Suddenly it all came back to him, the tea, the petite madeleines, his mother.

3. (intransitive) To return to a relationship with a former romantic partner.
   • 2009 July 14, Ingrid Michaelson, “Maybe”, in Everybody‎^[1]:

     […] I don't wanna sit on the pavement while you fly / But I will, I will, oh yes I will / 'Cause maybe, in the future, you're gonna come back, you're gonna come back around / Maybe, in the future, you're gonna come back, you're gonna come back […]

4. (intransitive) To return to a former state, usually a desirable one; to become fashionable once more.

   Many people counted him out, but he came back better than ever.

   Paisley is coming back this year.

   I'll come back to the harder questions after finishing the rest of the test.

5. (intransitive) To retort.

   He came back with one of his snide remarks.

Derived terms

• comeback (noun)
• comebacker

Translations

(intransitive) To return to a place — see also return,‎ go back

• Arabic: عَادَ (ar) (ʕāda), رَجَعَ (ar) (rajaʕa)

  Hijazi Arabic: رِجِع (rijiʕ)

• Armenian: վերադառնալ (hy) (veradaṙnal)
• Cebuano: balik
• Cherokee: ᎢᎦᎷᎦ (igaluga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 回來 / 回来 (zh) (huílai), 返回 (zh) (fǎnhuí)

• Czech: vrátit se (cs)
• Dutch: terugkomen (nl)
• Esperanto: reveni
• Estonian: naasma
• Faroese: koma aftur
• Finnish: palata (fi)
• French: revenir (fr)
• Friulian: tornâ
• Galician: voltar, retornar
• Georgian: დაბრუნება (dabruneba), ბრუნდება (brundeba)
• German: zurückkommen (de), zurückkehren (de)
• Greek: ξανάρχομαι (el) (xanárchomai)
• Hebrew: שָׁב (he) (shav)
• Hindi: वापस आना (vāpas ānā)
• Indonesian: kembali (id), balik (id)
• Irish: tar ar ais, fill
• Italian: tornare (it)
• Japanese: 戻る (ja) (もどる, modoru), 帰る (ja) (かえる, kaeru)
• Kapampangan: magbalik, umuli
• Khmer: ត្រឡប់មកវិញ (trɑlɑp mɔɔk vɨɲ), ត្រឡប់ (trɑlɑp)
• Korean: 돌아오다 (ko) (doraoda)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: گەڕانەوە (ckb) (gerranewe)

• Lao: ກັບມາ (kap mā), ເມືອ (mư̄a)
• Latin: reveniō, redeō (la)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: r'vénîn
• Norwegian: returnere, komme tilbake
• Persian: برگشتن (fa) (bargaštan)
• Polish: wracać (pl), wrócić (pl)
• Portuguese: voltar (pt)
• Quechua: kutiy, t'ikray (qu)
• Romanian: întoarce (ro)
• Russian: (imperfective) возвраща́ться (ru) (vozvraščátʹsja), (perfective) возврати́ться (ru) (vozvratítʹsja), (perfective) верну́ться (ru) (vernútʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: vrati se
• Slovak: prísť späť, vrátiť sa, navrátiť sa
• Slovene: vrni se
• Spanish: volver (es), volverse (es), estar de vuelta (to start to come back or to be on the way back), estarse de vuelta (for imperatives), regresar (es), regresarse (es), estar de regreso (to start to come back or to be on the way back), estarse de regreso (for imperatives)
• Swedish: komma tillbaka
• Thai: กลับมา (glàp maa)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: دونمك (dönmek)

• Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎁 (ṯb)
• Ukrainian: повернутися (povernutysja)
• Urdu: واپس آنا (ur) (vāpas ānā)
• Vietnamese: trở lại (vi), trở về (vi)

to retort

• Spanish: contrarreplicar, revirar (es), reponer (es), despanchurrar (es), despachurrar (es), espanchurrar, retrucar (es)

to return to a desirable state

• Spanish: remontarse (es), repuntar (es), desquitarse (es), recobrarse (es)

See also

• go back