recur

American  

[ri-kur] / rɪˈkɜr /

verb (used without object)

• recurs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• recurred,
  past participle,  past
• recurring
  present participle

1. to occur again, as an event, experience, etc.

2. to return to the mind.

   The idea kept recurring.

3. to come up again for consideration, as a question.

4. to have recourse.

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recur British  

/ rɪˈkɜː /

verb

1. to happen again, esp at regular intervals

2. (of a thought, idea, etc) to come back to the mind

3. (of a problem, etc) to come up again

4. maths (of a digit or group of digits) to be repeated an infinite number of times at the end of a decimal fraction

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• recurring
  adjective
• recurringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• recurring
  present
• recurred
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• recur
  simple
• recurs
  simple
• have recurred
  perfect
• has recurred
  perfect
• am recurring
  progressive
• are recurring
  progressive
• is recurring
  progressive
• have been recurring
  perfect progressive
• has been recurring
  perfect progressive

Past

• recurred
  simple
• had recurred
  perfect
• was recurring
  progressive
• were recurring
  progressive
• had been recurring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will recur
  simple
• will have recurred
  perfect
• will be recurring
  progressive
• will have been recurring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of recur

1610–20; earlier: to recede < Latin recurrere to run back, equivalent to re- re- + currere to run

Explanation

Have you ever had the same crazy dream night after night? If so, you know that dreams can recur, meaning they repeat, or happen again. The verb recur is used to describe something that happens over and over, whether it’s an injury, an argument, or a character who pops up from time to time on a television show. Recur often describes an event that happens repeatedly, but it can also be used to describe something, such as an image or a memory, that for some reason just keeps popping back up in your mind, like self-doubt that recurs every time you worry about something.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recur recurs recurred recurring

But “Kiki” holds several themes that recur in Miyazaki’s work.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026

These changes do not always mean cancer is present, but they should be evaluated if they continue or recur.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

Sirinya is worried that such a tragedy could recur "because there are so many of these pubs".

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

“I got the audition last year, about April,” Callan recalled, “just to recur. And I said, ‘This is silly, they’re not going to cast a Los Angeles actor to go recur in Massachusetts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

That illustrates an issue that will recur throughout this book.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

The pattern recurs: firms scale first; law and politics arrive later, often together.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

If the same pattern recurs, employment gains last month could be stronger than expected.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026

That conflict between “progress” and “tradition” has never been resolved, and recurs in every generation.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025

This leads to a sudden reduction in downforce, so the car jumps up, only for the airflow to start working again, the car sucked back down until the same thing recurs.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

I have one dream that recurs far too often.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

Insurance company Allianz modeled how countries would fare if the five hottest years each experienced between 2014 and 2024 recurred in succession.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Adler also recurred on FX’s “Rescue Me” as fire chief Sidney Feinberg and appeared in series ranging from “Northern Exposure” and “Mad About You” to “Transparent” and “Broad City.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2025

As someone who has always had a masochistic streak, finding out that these sequences of cars speeding down darkened paths recurred in Lynch’s other works both delighted and horrified me.

From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2025

And the speed with which the disease, pancreatic cancer, often recurred could work to the scientists’ advantage: For better or worse, they would find out soon whether the vaccine helped.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2023

Though the wound in her head had healed, she was subject to periods of troubled sleep, she had strange dreams which recurred night after night.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry

She also used what she learned in the class to help her mother set up auto-pay on recurring payments and increase her credit score so that she could qualify for a car loan.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Palmer was hampered by a recurring groin injury in 2025-26, which former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca - who is now boss at Manchester City - said did not make sense.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Such brutality is a recurring theme in Peter C. Mancall’s “Contested Continent: The Struggle for North America, c. 1000-1680.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Securing Chinese guarantees to purchase US agricultural goods, particularly soybeans, has been a recurring objective in trade talks with Beijing.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

He shut his eyes and pressed his fingers against them, trying to squeeze out the vision that kept recurring.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Related Words

• persist
• reappear