Word.ws English Dictionary

gives back

gives back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give back.

Meaning of give back

Verb

give back (third-person singular simple present gives back, present participle giving back, simple past gave back, past participle given back)

  1. (transitive) To return, restore (a thing to its original owner or location etc.).
    • Give me back my book!
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To contribute money, goods, or, especially, services for charitable purposes, as if in return for one's own success.
    • We organize this Thanksgiving dinner at the old-age home to give back to the community.
  3. (archaic) To recede; to retreat.
    • Yet the Fiends ſeemed to come nearer and nearer, but when they were come even almoſt at him, he cried out with a moſt vehement voice, I will walk in the ſtrength of the Lord God; ſo they gave back, and came no farther.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by...

Questions about gives back

What is gives back the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gives back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give back.

Words near gives back in the dictionary

  1. gives an inch
  2. gives as good as one gets
  3. gives away
  4. gives away the farm
  5. gives away the store
  6. gives back
  7. gives battle
  8. gives birth
  9. gives blood
  10. gives brain
  11. gives by

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives back (page history and authors); give back (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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