In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
REVERSION
backsliding, lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting
(noun) a failure to maintain a higher state
regression, regress, reversion, retrogression, retroversion
(noun) returning to a former state
reversion, reverse, reversal, turnabout, turnaround
(noun) turning in the opposite direction
atavism, reversion, throwback
(noun) a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
reversion
(noun) (genetics) a return to a normal phenotype (usually resulting from a second mutation)
reversion
(noun) (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)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
reversion (countable and uncountable, plural reversions)
The action of reverting something.
The action of returning to a former condition or practice; reversal.
The fact of being turned the reverse way.
The action of turning something the reverse way.
(legal) The return of an estate to the donor or grantor after expiry of the grant.
(legal) An estate which has been returned in this manner.
(legal) The right of succeeding to an estate, or to another possession.
The right of succeeding to an office after the death or retirement of the holder.
The return of a genetic characteristic after a period of suppression.
A sum payable on a person's death.
(in Islamic usage, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim) The act of conversion to Islam.
Usage notes
Basic sense is reverting (as nominalization of revert), but also used as reversing (from reanalysis as reverse + -sion), for which the more precise term is reversal. Compare “mean reversion” with “reversal of fortune”. The similar regression has connotations of moving back in time.
Synonyms
• (returning to a previous state): regression
• (reversing): reversal
Anagrams
• overrisen
Source: Wiktionary
Re*ver"sion, n. Etym: [F. réversion, 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)
Definition: 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)
Definition: 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.)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
2 April 2025
COVERT
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
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