Meanings
present singular third person goes back · participle present going back · past went back · participle past gone back
- intransitiveTo return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
We were getting cold so we decided to go back.
3 more examples
Humans had discovered fire and there was no going back.
He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. […] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again […] she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.
1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLCWrex: I escaped with my life. But not before I sank my dagger deep into my father's chest. Wrex: That... is why I left. And that's why I'll never go back.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1
Synonyms & antonyms
verbregain a former condition after a financial loss
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 回去, 返回
- 回去 (huíqu)to return to a place
- 返回 (fǎnhuí)to return to a place
Dutch teruggaan
- teruggaanto return to a place
Esperanto reveturi, reiri
- reveturito return to a place
- reirito return to a place
Finnish palata, mennä takaisin
- palatato return to a place
- mennä takaisinto return to a place
French rentrer, retourner
- rentrerto return to a place
- retournerto return to a place
- revenirto abandon, desert, betray or fail someone or something
German zurückgehen, zurückfahren
- zurückgehento return to a place
- zurückfahrento return to a place
Hungarian visszamegy
- visszamegyto return to a place
Italian tornare
- tornareto return to a place
Japanese 戻る, 帰る
- 戻る (modoru)to return to a place
- 帰る (kaeru)to return to a place
Korean 돌아가다
- 돌아가다 (doragada)to return to a place
Latin redeō
- redeōto return to a place
Malay kembali
- kembalito return to a place
Portuguese voltar
- voltarto return to a place
Romanian întoarce
- întoarceto return to a place
Russian возвраща́ться, возврати́ться
- возвраща́ться (vozvraščátʹsja)to return to a place
- возврати́ться (vozvratítʹsja)to return to a place
- верну́ться (vernútʹsja)to return to a place
- быть знако́мыми (bytʹ znakómymi)to have known each other
- брать нача́ло (bratʹ načálo)to extend into past time
- простира́ться (prostirátʹsja)to extend into past time
- дати́роваться (datírovatʹsja)to extend into past time
Swahili kurejea
- kurejeato return to a place
Thai กลับไป
- กลับไป (glàp bpai)to return to a place
Ukrainian повертатися
- повертатися (povertatysja)to return to a place
Vietnamese trở lại
- trở lạito return to a place
Cite this entry
go back. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20back
“go back.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20back. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go back,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20back.
Source: go back on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.