never to return
idiom
—used to say that someone never went back to a place
She left home never to return.
Examples of never to return in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Veronique, a clever favorite, learns her lover is the king, becomes pregnant and is quietly married off, never to return.
—
Ashlee Conour, Chicago Tribune, 2 Sep. 2025
The woman is seen having a heated confrontation with a worker at Ventura County Mexican shop La Catrinita Crafts, with both parties exchanging insults, culminating in the woman walking away while flipping off the worker, who responds by telling her never to return.
—Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
Since the 1930s, the decade you were taken away, never to return.
—Tanya Talaga
july 24, Literary Hub, 24 July 2025
Films that decolonize the gaze and propose new paradigms, because the old ones justify colonial narratives and systems of exclusion, whose consequences are bodies silenced, erased, and disappeared into the void of war — never to return.
—Rance Collins, IndieWire, 12 July 2025
Much of Bill Belichick’s menacing aura has evaporated into the ether, never to return.
—Tim Graham, New York Times, 16 June 2025
Meanwhile, the civil-rights movement split the Democratic coalition—its Southern wing peeled off, never to return—and Vietnam fractured the liberals.
—Louis Menand, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
Right after the Sharks began their 4 Nations Face-Off break on Feb. 9, though, Poturalski was right back in the minors, never to return.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 10 May 2025
While most of Moore’s extended family vowed never to return to the United States, his grandfather did.
—Melissa Noel, Essence, 5 May 2025
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Ashlee Conour, Chicago Tribune, 2 Sep. 2025
The woman is seen having a heated confrontation with a worker at Ventura County Mexican shop La Catrinita Crafts, with both parties exchanging insults, culminating in the woman walking away while flipping off the worker, who responds by telling her never to return.
—Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
Since the 1930s, the decade you were taken away, never to return.
—Tanya Talaga
july 24, Literary Hub, 24 July 2025
Films that decolonize the gaze and propose new paradigms, because the old ones justify colonial narratives and systems of exclusion, whose consequences are bodies silenced, erased, and disappeared into the void of war — never to return.
—Rance Collins, IndieWire, 12 July 2025
Much of Bill Belichick’s menacing aura has evaporated into the ether, never to return.
—Tim Graham, New York Times, 16 June 2025
Meanwhile, the civil-rights movement split the Democratic coalition—its Southern wing peeled off, never to return—and Vietnam fractured the liberals.
—Louis Menand, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
Right after the Sharks began their 4 Nations Face-Off break on Feb. 9, though, Poturalski was right back in the minors, never to return.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 10 May 2025
While most of Moore’s extended family vowed never to return to the United States, his grandfather did.
—Melissa Noel, Essence, 5 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Never to return.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/never%20to%20return. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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