Return vs Reverse - What's the difference?

In intransitive terms the difference between return and reverse

is that return is to go back in thought, narration, or argument while reverse is to transpose the positions of two things.

In transitive terms the difference between return and reverse

is that return is to report, or bring back and make known while reverse is to change totally; to alter to the opposite.

As an adjective reverse is

opposite, contrary; going in the opposite direction.

As an adverb reverse is

in a reverse way or direction; upside-down.

return

English

Verb

(en verb)

To come or go back (to a place or person).

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}

To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

(obsolete) To turn back, retreat.

*, Bk.V:

*:‘I suppose here is none woll be glad to returne – and as for me,’ seyde Sir Cador, ‘I had lever dye this day that onys to turne my bak.’

(obsolete) To turn (something) round.

*, Bk.X, Ch.xiij:

*:Whan Kyng Marke harde hym sey that worde, he returned his horse and abode by hym.

To put (place) something back where it had been.

To give something back to its original holder or owner.

To take something back to a retailer for a refund.

To give in requital or recompense; to requite.

*Bible, 1 Kings ii.44

*:The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head.

(tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

(card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

(cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.

To say in reply; to respond.

:to return''' an answer; to '''return thanks

*1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew)

*:‘Ah my good friend, I do look out!’ the young man returned while Maisie helped herself afresh to bread and butter.

(computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.

(computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

(dated) To retort; to throw back.

:to return the lie

*Dryden

*:If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am.

To report, or bring back and make known.

:to return the result of an election

*Bible, Exodus xix.8

*:And all the people answered together,and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.

(by extension, UK) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.

Derived terms

(Terms derived from the verb "return") * return to form

Noun

(en noun)

The act of returning.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}

A return ticket.

An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.

An answer.

a return to one's question

An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.

election returns'''; a '''return of the amount of goods produced or sold

Gain or loss from an investment.

* Jeremy Taylor

The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport

, title= Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , passage=Liverpool have now won only five of their 17 home league games this season. It is a poor return for a team of Liverpool's pedigree and resources but, once again, Kenny Dalglish's team were the instigators of their own downfall as chance after chance went begging.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The rise of smart beta , passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return' of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of ' return .}}

(taxation, finance): A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts. A tax return.

(computing) A carriage return character.

(computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.

(computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.

A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.

(American football) Catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.

(cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.

The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

A facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.

Synonyms

* (l)

Derived terms

(Terms derived from the noun "return") * abnormal return * absolute return * active return * amended return * annual return * carriage return * day return * dollar return * exante return * excess return * expected return * exponential return * false return * hard return * in return * information return * joint return * many happy returns * market return * mean return * non-return * point of no return * rate of return * real return * relative return * return address * return crease * return day * return extrasystole * return flow * return key * return of capital * return on assests * return on capital emlpoyed * return on equity * return on invested capital * return on investment * return on net assets * return on sales * return stroke * return ticket * return to form * Return To Zero * return address * risk-adjsuted return * risk-free return * risk-return tradeoff * safety-net return/safety net return * soft return * subperiod return * tax return * total return * venous return

Statistics

Anagrams

* English reporting verbs 1000 English basic words

reverse

English

Adjective

(en adjective)

Opposite, contrary; going in the opposite direction.

We ate the meal in reverse order, starting with dessert and ending with the starter.

The mirror showed us a reverse view of the scene.

Pertaining to engines, vehicle movement etc. moving in a direction opposite to the usual direction.

He selected reverse gear.

(rail transport, of points) to be in the non-default position; to be set for the lesser-used route.

Turned upside down; greatly disturbed.

* Gower

He found the sea diverse / With many a windy storm reverse .

(botany) Reversed.

a reverse shell

Antonyms

* (rail transport) normal

Derived terms

* reverse discrimination

Adverb

(en adverb)

*, Bk.XVIII:

*:they three smote hym at onys with their spearys, and with fors of themselff they smote Sir Launcelottis horse revers to the erthe.

*1963 , Donal Serrell Thomas, Points of Contact :

*:The man was killed to feed his image fat / Within this pictured world that ran reverse , / Where miracles alone were ever plain.

Noun

(en noun)

The opposite of something.

We believed the Chinese weren't ready for us. In fact, the reverse was true.

The act of going backwards; a reversal.

* Lamb

By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich.

A piece of misfortune; a setback.

* 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 309:

In fact, though the Russians did not yet know it, the British had met with a reverse .

The tails side of a coin, or the side of a medal or badge that is opposite the obverse.

The side of something facing away from a viewer, or from what is considered the front; the other side.

The gear setting of an automobile that makes it travel backwards.

A thrust in fencing made with a backward turn of the hand; a backhanded stroke.

(Shakespeare)

(surgery) A turn or fold made in bandaging, by which the direction of the bandage is changed.

Derived terms

* in reverse

Verb

(revers)

To turn something around such that it faces in the opposite direction.

To turn something inside out or upside down.

* Sir W. Temple

A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if balanced by admirable skill.

To transpose the positions of two things.

To change totally; to alter to the opposite.

* Shakespeare

Reverse the doom of death.

* Sir Walter Scott

She reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of Bray.

(obsolete) To return, come back.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.4:

Bene they all dead, and laide in dolefull herse? / Or doen they onely sleepe, and shall againe reuerse ?

(obsolete) To turn away; to cause to depart.

* Spenser

And that old dame said many an idle verse, / Out of her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse .

(obsolete) To cause to return; to recall.

* Spenser

And to his fresh remembrance did reverse / The ugly view of his deformed crimes.

(legal) To revoke a law, or to change a decision into its opposite.

to reverse a judgment, sentence, or decree

(ergative) To cause a mechanism or a vehicle to operate or move in the opposite direction to normal.

(chemistry) To change the direction of a reaction such that the products become the reactants and vice-versa.

(rail transport) To place a set of points in the reverse position

(rail transport, intransitive, of points) to move from the normal position to the reverse position

To overthrow; to subvert.

* Alexander Pope

These can divide, and these reverse , the state.

* Rogers

Custom reverses even the distinctions of good and evil.

Derived terms

* to reverse out * bootlegger reverse * reversal noun

Antonyms

* (rail transport) normalise / normalize (transitive and intransitive)

Anagrams

* * * English ergative verbs ----