Comeback

How to spell comeback

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce comeback

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does comeback mean?

1. nounA return to a former position of strength, success, or popularity after a decline.
2. nounA quick, sharp, or clever reply, especially one made in response to criticism or a joke.

Comeback in a sentence

• The veteran player made a remarkable comeback after two years of injury.

• She thought of the perfect comeback an hour after the argument had ended.

• Vinyl records have staged an unexpected comeback in recent years.

• His sarcastic comeback left the whole meeting laughing.

Where does comeback come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound, built simply from the everyday verb 'come' and the adverb 'back'. The verb 'come' descends from Old English 'cuman', meaning 'to move toward or arrive', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins across the old Germanic languages. 'Back' comes from Old English 'bæc', originally the noun for the rear of the body, which later widened into the directional sense of 'returning to a former position'. The two were welded into a single noun in American English in the late nineteenth century, first describing a recovery of fortune or status, and the snappy sense of a quick verbal retort followed in the early twentieth century. Because both halves are such ordinary words, the only real spelling decision is remembering that as a noun it is written solid, one word, rather than the two-word verb phrase 'come back'.

How the word is built

• come (verb: to move toward)
• back (adverb/noun: return, rearward)