to give back
684
1.0
- phrasal verb
- /ɡɪv bæk/
:
devolver
- I just came to give you back your shirt.
- give back someone's speech
- give back images
So they just keep it and, like, give it back to their people.
- So they just keep it and, like, give it back to their people.
- And I try to give back dignity to this person.
- Sverdlovsk has since been renamed, given back its old name of Yekaterinburg.
- So Universal plans to give her back the masters.
- And the response that it gave back was you can always go back there.
- They were very much in favor of giving it back to the Germans.
- And I say, can you give it back to me?
- Oh Sam, I don't want to give back my car.
- All that, give me my money back, thank you.
- They were taking away a lump of gold and giving back a lump of coal.
- Now, why'd you give me a mobile back to the.
Examples
-
Let me give it back to you.
-
I'm sorry it took so long to give it back.
-
So they just keep it and, like, give it back to their people.
-
Tried to give it to me, but I gave it back over there.
-
Would you call somebody and give the money back or would you keep it?
-
So the demand was give us back the land.
-
So Father, give me back my peace.
-
Give it back to me.
-
Why don't you just give him back the money?
-
I borrowed his book last month, but today I need to give back the book to him.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Give something back to its owner or the place it came from
449
1.0
Return something to the place where it was before
436
1.7
Return someone or something to the place they came from
313
3.4
Return someone to their family or a thing to its owner
298
1.6
Give back money you borrowed from someone
123
1.5
To return something to the person or place it came from
110
5.8
To return a person or thing to a previous position like a job
75
1.7
To pay back money you borrowed
27
1.5
To pay back money to someone who is unhappy or paid too much
1
3.4
Give something back to the person who had it
1
6.0
To give someone back an official power, title, or job
1
8.8
Give back something lost or stolen to its owner
Give back ownership of a property to the previous owner after a loan is paid
Antonyms
How Restored
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to contribute time, money, or resources' is an extended, reciprocal use of 'give' + 'back' where 'back' signals giving in return; a learner who knows the words may infer a general sense of returning or reciprocating but might not fully predict the charitable/community nuance without context. Because the meaning is a metaphorical extension of the literal 'give back' (return) and similar reciprocity constructions exist cross-linguistically, it is partly transparent but not fully predictable.
Etymology
Give back shows a simple picture: you give something and send it back to the person who had it before. So, it means 'to return' an item to its original owner.