English

Noun

revert ‎(plural reverts)

1. One who, or that which, reverts.
2. (religion) One who reverts to that religion which he had adhered to before having converted to another
   • 2010, Kurt J. Werthmuller, Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt: 1218-1250 (page 77)

     [...] Cyril III ibn Laqlaq’s correspondence which reflects genuine—if intentionally vague—concern for the secretive community of Christian converts and reverts [who had converted to Islam before].

3. (Islam, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim) A convert to Islam.
   • 1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons, page 27:

     Zeba Siddiqui, herself a revert and editor of the Parent's Manual: A Guide for Muslim Parents Living in North America, contributed to this book as a consultant.

   • 2001, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons

     Parents should not reject a proposal without good reason — and being a revert with a past is not an acceptable one.

4. (computing) The act of reversion (of e.g. a database transaction or source control repository) to an earlier state.

   We've found that git reverts are at least an order of magnitude faster than SVN reverse merges.

Related terms

• reversion
• revertive

Translations

Verb

revert ‎(third-person singular simple present reverts, present participle reverting, simple past and past participle reverted)

1. (transitive, now rare) To turn back, or turn to the contrary; to reverse.
   • Prior

     Till happy Chance reverts the cruel scene.

   • Thomson

     The tumbling stream […] / Reverted, plays in undulating flow.

2. To throw back; to reflect; to reverberate.
3. (transitive) To cause to return to a former condition.
4. (intransitive, now rare) To return; to come back.

   If they attack, we will revert to the bunker.‎

   • Shakespeare

     So that my arrows / Would have reverted to my bow again.

5. (intransitive) To return to the possession of.

   When a book goes out of print, rights revert from the publisher to the author.‎

   1. (intransitive, law) Of an estate: To return to its former owner, or to his or her heirs, when a grant comes to an end.
6. (transitive) To cause (a property or rights) to return to the previous owner.

   Sometimes a publisher will automatically revert rights back to an author once a book has gone out of print.‎

7. (intransitive) To return to a former practice, condition, belief, etc.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

8. (intransitive, biology) To return to an earlier or primitive type or state; to take on the traits or characters of an ancestral type.
9. (intransitive) To change back, as from a soluble to an insoluble state or the reverse.

   Phosphoric acid in certain fertilizers reverts.‎

10. (intransitive) To take up again or return to a previous topic.
11. (intransitive, in Muslim usage, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim) To convert to Islam.
    • 1995, Wizārat al-Iʻlām wa-al-Thaqāfah, Sudanow: Volume 20

      He added that Islam is the religion of justice which rejects injustice, referring to the case of Mike Tyson and how he has become a real problem to the West since he reverted to Islam.

    • 1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons

      The mission of 'translating' the Qur'an had preoccupied Pickthall's mind since he reverted to Islam.

    • 2003, Islamic Revival Association, Al Jumuʻah: Volume 15, Issues 7-12

      But once he reverted to Islam, he attended as many lectures as he could, listened to Islamic tapes and the recitations of Qur'an. Subtly and gradually his moods were stabilized, and he started to have positive outlook on life.

12. (intransitive, nonstandard, proscribed, often India) To reply; to come back.

    Please revert before Monday.‎

13. (transitive, mathematics) To treat (a series, such as y = a + bx + cx² + ..., where one variable y is expressed in powers of a second variable x), so as to find the second variable x expressed in a series arranged in powers of y.

Translations