Word.ws English Dictionary

return the favor

return the favor verb: to do something for someone, or to someone, similar to what they did for you or to you (whether good or bad).

Verb

return the favor (third-person singular simple present returns the favor, present participle returning the favor, simple past and past participle returned the favor)

  1. (idiomatic) To do something for someone, or to someone, similar to what they did for you or to you (whether good or bad).
    • I did some snow shoveling for him when he was ill, and he was kind enough to return the favor this year. [positive valence]
    • They ignored my request, so I was happy to return the favor when I got the chance. [negative valence produced by sarcasm]

Examples of return the favor in a sentence

  • The canonical way to restore a measure of balance is to return the favor to our benefactor, as per symmetrical reciprocity.2006, David Schmidtz, The Elements of Justice, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 83:
  • This recognition in turn triggers a judgment that you ought to return the favor – that is, you ought to share some of your food with Gertrude when the opportunity arises.2010, Scott M. James, An Introduction to Evolutionary Ethics, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 140:

Forms of return the favor

third-person singular presentreturns the favor
present participlereturning the favor
past participlereturned the favor
pastreturned the favor
alternative UKreturn the favour

Questions about return the favor

What does return the favor mean?
Return the favor means to do something for someone, or to someone, similar to what they did for you or to you (whether good or bad).
How do you use return the favor in a sentence?
The canonical way to restore a measure of balance is to return the favor to our benefactor, as per symmetrical reciprocity.
What part of speech is return the favor?
Return the favor is a verb.
What is the past tense of return the favor?
The past tense of return the favor is returned the favor.

Words near return the favor in the dictionary

  1. return shocks
  2. return spring
  3. return springs
  4. return tag
  5. return tags
  6. return the favor
  7. return the favour
  8. return ticket
  9. return tickets
  10. return time
  11. return times

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: return the favor (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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