Meanings
nounreturn path (plural return paths)
plural return paths
- businessThe route by which a current or signal returns to its source, or to earth.
One rail (known as the traction return rail) is not broken into [track circuit] sections as it provides the return path for the current.
2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, pages 30-311 more example
The inner, or negative, rail is also known as the 'current return' rail, because electrical current needs a circuit - a return path to earth, in other words.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 136
Cite this entry
APA
return path. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/return%20path
MLA
“return path.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/return%20path. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “return path,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/return%20path.
Source: return path on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.