To return means to go back to a place you came from or give something back to its owner. When you return home from school, you're going back to where you started your day. When you return a library book, you're giving it back to where it belongs.

The word captures different kinds of going back. A bird returns to its nest at sunset. A boomerang returns to the thrower's hand. If you borrow your friend's pencil, you need to return it when you're done. When a hero in a story returns to their village after a long quest, they're coming back to where their journey began.

In sports, a return happens when you hit, kick, or throw something back, like returning a tennis serve or a kickoff in football. In stores, you can make a return by bringing back something you bought and getting your money back.

The word can describe bringing something back into existence, too. When spring returns after winter, warm weather comes back. When someone's confidence returns after a disappointment, they're getting it back.

A return address on an envelope shows where mail should go back to if it can't be delivered. And in conversations, people sometimes say things like “now, returning to what we were discussing earlier” when they want to go back to a previous topic.