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
The rift came to a head though in October 2019, just before Harry and Meghan left Britain to spend Thanksgiving in Canada, never to return full-time.
—
Jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
The sound rang out for the police and firefighters who ran toward doom, some never to return.
—Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 11 Sep. 2025
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
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
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Jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
The sound rang out for the police and firefighters who ran toward doom, some never to return.
—Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 11 Sep. 2025
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
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
Cite this Entry
“Never to return.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/never%20to%20return. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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