reversion

noun

• 1 [mass noun] a return to a previous state, practice, or belief:there was some reversion to polytheism [in singular]:a reversion to the two-party system
• Biology the action of reverting to a former or ancestral type: a problem applicable to most variegated plants is that of reversion

• 2 [mass noun] Law the right, especially of the original owner or their heirs, to possess or succeed to property on the death of the present possessor or at the end of a lease: the reversion of property
• [count noun] a property to which someone has the right of reversion: parties buying and selling leases and reversions
• the right of succession to an office or post after the death or retirement of the holder:he was given a promise of the reversion of Boraston’s job

• 3a sum payable on a person’s death, especially by way of life insurance.

• 4 (also reversion disease) [mass noun] an incurable disease of the blackcurrant transmitted by the blackcurrant gall mite.