Adjacent Words

Reversion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REVER'SION, n. [L. reversio.]
1. In general sense, a returning; appropriately, in law, the returning of an estate to the grantor or his heirs, after a particular estate is ended. Hence,
2. The residue of an estate left in the grantor, to commence in possession after the determination of the particular estate granted. Thus when there is a gift in tail, the reversion of the fee is, without any special reservation, vested in the donor by act of law.
3. Succession; right to future possession or enjoyment.
4. In algebra, reversion of series, a kind of reversed operation of an infinite series.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (law) an interest in an estate that reverts to the grantor (or his heirs) at the end of some period (e.g., the death of the grantee)
2: (genetics) a return to a normal phenotype (usually resulting from a second mutation)
3: a reappearance of an earlier characteristic [syn: atavism, reversion, throwback]
4: turning in the opposite direction [syn: reversion, reverse, reversal, turnabout, turnaround]
5: returning to a former state [syn: regression, regress, reversion, retrogression, retroversion]
6: a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: backsliding, lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin reversion-, reversio act of returning, from revertere Date: 15th century 1. a. the part of a simple estate remaining in the control of its owner after the owner has granted therefrom a lesser particular estate b. a future interest in property left in the control of a grantor or the grantor's successor 2. the right of succession or future possession or enjoyment 3. a. an act or the process of returning (as to a former condition) b. a return toward an ancestral type or condition ; reappearance of an ancestral character 4. an act or instance of turning the opposite way ; the state of being so turned 5. a product of reversion; specifically an organism with an atavistic character ; throwback

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the legal right (esp. of the original owner, or his or her heirs) to possess or succeed to property on the death of the present possessor. b property to which a person has such a right. 2 Biol. a return to ancestral type. 3 a return to a previous state, habit, etc. 4 a sum payable on a person's death, esp. by way of life insurance. Derivatives: reversional adj. reversionary adj. Etymology: ME f. OF reversion or L reversio (as REVERSE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reversion Re*ver"sion, n. [F. r['e]version, L. reversio a turning back. See Revert.] 1. The act of returning, or coming back; return. [Obs.] After his reversion home, [he] was spoiled, also, of all that he brought with him. --Foxe. 2. That which reverts or returns; residue. [Obs.] The small reversion of this great navy which came home might be looked upon by religious eyes as relics. --Fuller. 3. (Law) The returning of an esttate to the grantor or his heirs, by operation of law, after the grant has terminated; hence, the residue of an estate left in the proprietor or owner thereof, to take effect in possession, by operation of law, after the termination of a limited or less estate carved out of it and conveyed by him. --Kent. 4. Hence, a right to future possession or enjoiment; succession. For even reversions are all begged before. --Dryden. 5. (Annuities) A payment which is not to be received, or a benefit which does not begin, until the happening of some event, as the death of a living person. --Brande &C. 6. (Biol.) A return towards some ancestral type or character; atavism. Reversion of series (Alg.), the act of reverting a series. See To revert a series, under Revert, v. t.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(reversions) 1. A reversion to a previous state, system, or kind of behaviour is a change back to it. This is a reversion to the system under which the Royals were paid for nearly 300 years. = return N-SING: also no det, N to n 2. The reversion of land or property to a person, family, or country is the return to them of the ownership or control of the land or property. (LEGAL) N-VAR: oft the N of n to n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Succession, inheritance. 2. Atavism.

Moby Thesaurus

about-face, about-turn, atavism, back track, back trail, backing, backing off, backing out, backing up, backset, backsliding, backup, backward deviation, bequeathal, bequest, birthright, borough-English, coheirship, coparcenary, copyhold, devolution, ectropion, entail, equitable estate, estate at sufferance, estate for life, estate for years, estate in expectancy, estate in fee, estate in possession, estate tail, eversion, falling back, fee, fee simple, fee tail, feod, feodum, feud, feudal estate, fief, gavelkind, heirloom, heirship, hereditament, heritable, heritage, heritance, improvement, incorporeal hereditament, inheritance, instauration, introversion, intussusception, invagination, inversion, lapse, law of succession, lease, leasehold, legacy, legal estate, line of succession, mode of succession, paramount estate, particular estate, patrimony, postremogeniture, primogeniture, pronation, reactivation, reconstitution, reconversion, recrudescence, recurrence, redintegration, reenactment, reestablishment, reformation, regression, rehabilitation, reinstatement, reinstation, reinstitution, reinvestiture, reinvestment, relapse, remainder, renewal, replacement, restitution, restoration, resupination, retroflexion, retroversion, return, reversal, reverse, reversing, revulsion, right-about, right-about-face, setback, shifting trust, shifting use, succession, supination, swingaround, throwback, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, transposal, transposition, turn, turnabout, turnaround, turning back, turning backwards, turning inside out, turning inward, turning over, ultimogeniture, vested estate, volte-face