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Glite Dictionary
revertible

revertible

9.4
Able to return to a previous owner, often by law
  • adjective
  • /rɪˈvɜrtəbl/
  • Formal
translation icon : revertible
  • In real estate, some leases are structured to be revertible, ensuring that the property returns to the landlord after the lease ends.

Examples

  • Due to the legal agreement, the rights to the artwork were deemed revertible, allowing the artist's heirs to regain ownership in the future.

  • "What would make more sense for annotations: "branching" changes where everybody owns their own data and accepts pull requests, or a more shared wiki-style thing where anybody can edit anything, with revertible history?

    Blog text (3)

  • The contract included a clause stating that the property was revertible to its original owner after a specified period.

Synonyms

returnable
vsrevertible
3 2.3

An item you can take back to a shop to get money or to use again

is about rights that return to earlier possessor through legal process
reversionary
vsrevertible
  • Formal
9.9

Relating to a future right to own something, often land or money

is about property able to go back to a previous owner by law

Surface Forms

revertible positive

Morphology

revertible = revert (transparent) = revert + ible

Meaning is directly derived as 'able to be reverted'; the legal sense ('returns to previous owner') is a straightforward application of 'revert' plus the adjectival '-ible'.

Etymology

Revertible comes from the parts re- 'back' and vert 'turn', the same root you see in reverse. So, something revertible can 'turn back' or return to an earlier owner, often by law.