Revenant

Pronunciation

• GenAm IPA: /ˈɹɛvÉ™nÉ™nt/

Origin

19th century. From French revenant, the present participle of revenir ("to return"). Compare revenue.

Full definition of revenant

Noun

1. Someone who returns from a long absence.
• 1886, Mrs Lynn Linton, Paston Carew viii, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.
• 1895 August 31, Daily News 4/7, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:The undergraduates, our fogey revenant observes, look much as they did.., in outward aspect.
• 2008, Andrew Cusack, Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature, Camden House, ISBN 978-1-57113-386-1, page 91:From this moment on, the hero's fate is sealed; an attempt to reestablish himself in human society, though initially successful, inevitably fails. The stone tablet exerts an invincible fascination over the revenant, who becomes so withdrawn that his father implores him: ...
2. A person or thing reborn.
• 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, page 184:Sometimes ... semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.
3. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
• Earlier you mentioned a ghost, a revenant with which we may contaminate the Emperor.

Synonyms

Adjective

1. Used as an adjective.
• 1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, Random House (2008), page 134:On clear nights when the moon was full, she waited for its shining revenant ghost.----