bounce back

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bounce back (third-person singular simple present bounces back, present participle bouncing back, simple past and past participle bounced back)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bounce,‎ back.
2. (idiomatic) To recover from a negative without seemingly any damage.

   We thought he'd die from the crash, but he bounced back to normal after 10 days in hospital.

   • 2018 December 8, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 0 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chelsea bounced back from the disappointment of losing at Wolves in midweek to end City's 21-game unbeaten league run stretching back to April, and a sequence of 14 unbeaten games away from home.

   • 2020 May 20, Paul Bigland, “East London Line's renaissance”, in Rail, page 49:

     The current Coronavirus pandemic has obviously had an effect on the line's traffic, but I have little doubt that the numbers will bounce back sooner or later because the ELL has proved too vital a link for both business and leisure travel.

3. (of a message, usually an email) To be returned to the sender because it is undeliverable.

• bounceback
• bouncebackability
• bouncebackable

bounce back (plural bounce backs)

1. Alternative form of bounceback
   • 2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC‎:

     After an initial bounce back, the post-Covid Chinese economy has turned sluggish. Its property market - once a key driver of growth - is now mired in a credit crisis, exacerbating a domestic "debt bomb" that has ballooned from years of borrowing by local government and state-owned enterprises.