revenants

Noun

revenant (plural revenants)

1. Someone who returns from a long absence.
   • They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.1886, Mrs Lynn Linton, Paston Carew viii, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595

   Synonyms:

   prodigal, returner

2. A person or thing reborn.
   • Sometimes […] semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 184

   Synonyms:

   phoenix

3. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
   • For granting even that Religion were dead; that it had died, half-centuries ago, with unutterable Dubois; or emigrated lately, to Alsace, with Necklace-Cardinal Rohan; or that it now walked as goblin revenant with Bishop Talleyrand of Autun; yet does not the Shadow of Religion, the Cant of...1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number)

   Synonyms:

   apparition, spectre

See all 4 meanings of revenant