Word.ws English Dictionary

returning to dust

returning to dust is the present participle and gerund of return to dust.

Meaning of return to dust

Verb

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

  1. (euphemistic, figuratively) To die.
    • Alexander died: Alexander was buried: Alexander returneth into dustc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Questions about returning to dust

What is returning to dust the present participle and gerund of?
Returning to dust is the present participle and gerund of return to dust.

Words near returning to dust in the dictionary

  1. returning fire
  2. returning officer
  3. returning officers
  4. returning the favor
  5. returning the favour
  6. returning to dust
  7. returning to form
  8. returning to one's muttons
  9. returnings
  10. returnless
  11. returnlessly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: returning to dust (page history and authors); return to dust (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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Cite this entry: “returning to dust.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/returning_to_dust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.