COME BACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does come back mean? 

• COME BACK (verb)
  The verb COME BACK has 4 senses:

1. be restored

2. go back to something earlier

3. even the score, in sports

4. answer back

  Familiarity information: COME BACK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COME BACK (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be restored

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

come back; return

Context example:

Her old vigor returned

Hypernyms (to "come back" is one way to...):

re-emerge; reappear (appear again)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go back to something earlier

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

come back; hark back; recall; return

Context example:

This harks back to a previous remark of his

Hypernyms (to "come back" is one way to...):

denote; refer (have as a meaning)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come back"):

go back; recur (return in thought or speech to something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Even the score, in sports

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "come back" is one way to...):

catch up (reach the point where one should be after a delay)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Answer back

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

come back; rejoin; repay; retort; return; riposte

Hypernyms (to "come back" is one way to...):

answer; reply; respond (react verbally)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

comeback (a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one))

 Context examples 

He had been born among them, he had lived among them, and though he had strayed for a time, it was well to come back among them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Now, let’s come back to this month.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

‘We had better come back to the paper afterwards,’ said I.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothy and the other travelers had come back again, after destroying the Wicked Witch; but Oz made no reply.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Then he went out and sent away the company, and said the wedding was at an end, for that he was come back to the kingdom.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Come back to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the judgment which we have pronounced this night!

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At last he spoke, saying: Is there no greeting for Negore, who has been long gone and has but now come back?

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Based on the observations they were able to make in 2012, asteroid trackers predicted that it should come back into view in the fall of 2017.

(Asteroid Tracking Network Observes Close Approach, NASA)

It is also used before surgery in certain patients who are at high risk for their disease to recur (come back) or spread to other parts of the body.

(Perjeta, NCI Dictionary)