Notions of regeneration have entered discourses in several fields that are relevant for sustainability, including, among others, ecology, agriculture, economics, management, sociology, psychology and chemistry. A review of existing work shows that there are interesting parallels between these fields. By carefully defining key concepts, such as regenerative dynamics, regenerative practices and regenerative momentum, this Review Article offers a generalized framework for understanding regenerative systems. This framework, in turn, promises to spark new insights for sustainability science and practice because it can link hitherto disconnected academic fields and foster new, integrative developments across multiple areas of sustainability practice.