I’ve seen the term “prodigal son” used in other ways before, but it’s pretty much always “the prodigal son returns”. I’ve tried to Google it before and that has only confused me more honestly.
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First, you need to understand what prodigal means. Prodigal means to spend extravagantly and wastefully.
Second, you need to know the origin of the phrase. It’s from a Bible parable, a parable being a story told to illustrate a moral lesson. The short version of the story is this:
A wealthy man has two sons. The younger of the two asks for his inheritance now (rather than wait for his father to die) so his father divides his estate between the two and gives each son their share. The younger son moves to another country where he spends his money lavishly (prodigally). While there a great famine strikes and he runs out of money. He is forced to take a very lowly job (swine herder) just to survive. Thinking of home, the younger son recalls that even his fathers servants live better than he does now, so he decides to return home and beg for a job there.
When the younger son returns home his father is overjoyed, and has a big party. The older son, who has been responsible this whole time is upset. “Why did you never celebrate me?” The father replies that all he has now will someday go to the older son, but its as if the younger son returned from the dead.
The basic gist is that people who are faithful are doing the right thing and will be rewarded, but people who have strayed and found their way home should be celebrated too because they are no longer lost.
Outside the story the phrase is often used to describe someone who goes away with an arrogant attitude and comes back having been humbled by their circumstances.
For example you have a coworker who makes a big deal about quitting for a supposedly better job at another company, only to get laid off and have to come back begging for their old job.
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