Etymology

From devolve +‎ -erCategory:English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)#DEVOLVER.

Noun

devolver (plural devolvers)Category:English lemmas#DEVOLVERCategory:English nouns#DEVOLVERCategory:English countable nouns#DEVOLVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with entries#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DEVOLVER

1. A devolutionist.
   • 1999, Paul Charles Light, The True Size of Government, page 55:

     It is on more traditional political attitudes where devolvers and reinventors draw on very different constituencies, creating two distinct packages of views toward government.

     Category:English terms with quotations#DEVOLVER

Anagrams

• revolved

Etymology

Learned borrowing from LatinCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin#DEVOLVERCategory:Portuguese learned borrowings from Latin#DEVOLVERCategory:Portuguese terms derived from Latin#DEVOLVER dēvolvere (“to roll or to tumble off or down”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

  Category:Portuguese terms with audio pronunciation#DEVOLVER
• Hyphenation: de‧vol‧ver

Verb

devolver (first-person singular present devolvo, first-person singular preterite devolvi, past participle devolvido)Category:Portuguese lemmas#DEVOLVERCategory:Portuguese verbs#DEVOLVERCategory:Portuguese verbs ending in -er#DEVOLVERCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with entries#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DEVOLVER

1. to return, give back

   Synonym: retornar

   Vou devolver isso.

   I'll give it back.

   Category:Portuguese terms with usage examples#DEVOLVER

2. to refund, to reimburse

   Synonym: reembolsar

3. to devolve

Further reading

• “devolver”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “devolver”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from Latin#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish terms derived from Latin#DEVOLVER dēvolvere (“roll or tumble off or down”). Cognate with English devolve.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /debolˈbeɾ/ [d̪e.β̞olˈβ̞eɾ]Category:Spanish 3-syllable words#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#DEVOLVER
• Rhymes: -eɾCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/eɾ#DEVOLVERCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/eɾ/3 syllables#DEVOLVER
• Syllabification: de‧vol‧ver

Verb

devolver (first-person singular present devuelvo, first-person singular preterite devolví, past participle devuelto)Category:Spanish lemmas#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish verbs#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish verbs ending in -er#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish irregular verbs#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish verbs with o-ue alternation#DEVOLVERCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with entries#DEVOLVERCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DEVOLVER

1. to return, refund, restore, give back, hand back, bring back, send back etc.
2. to pay back, repay (to pay an amount of money owed to another)
3. to devolve
4. (colloquialCategory:Spanish colloquialisms#DEVOLVER) to throw up, to vomit

   Synonym: vomitar

Further reading

• “devolver”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025