convalesce

American  

[kon-vuh-les] / ˌkɒn vəˈlɛs /

verb (used without object)

• convalesces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• convalesced,
  past participle,  past
• convalescing
  present participle

1. to recover health and strength after illness; make progress toward recovery of health.

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convalesce British  

/ ˌkɒnvəˈlɛs /

verb

1. (intr) to recover from illness, injury, or the aftereffects of a surgical operation, esp by resting

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• convalescing
  present
• convalesced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• convalesce
  simple
• convalesces
  simple
• have convalesced
  perfect
• has convalesced
  perfect
• am convalescing
  progressive
• are convalescing
  progressive
• is convalescing
  progressive
• have been convalescing
  perfect progressive
• has been convalescing
  perfect progressive

Past

• convalesced
  simple
• had convalesced
  perfect
• was convalescing
  progressive
• were convalescing
  progressive
• had been convalescing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will convalesce
  simple
• will have convalesced
  perfect
• will be convalescing
  progressive
• will have been convalescing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of convalesce

1475–85; < Latin convalēscere to grow fully strong, equivalent to con- con- + valēscere to grow strong ( val ( ēre ) to be well + -escere -esce )

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Explanation

Convalesce is a soft-sounding word, and it describes something you should do in a soft bed: recover from an illness. When someone is convalescing, you can be sure something bad happened to them. Maybe they were hit by a car, had a heart attack, or got a bad case of the flu. People convalesce in hospitals, or, if things are a little less serious, at home. A nursing home is sometimes called a "convalescent home," because the old people who live there often have health problems. When you're sick or hurt badly enough to be convalescing, the good news is that you're starting to heal and have time to catch up on books or TV.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

convalesce convalesces convalesced convalescing

Her sister traveled from out of state to help, and once my friend can travel, she will convalesce with her family in another state.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

To convalesce, they stay in this compound, and exercise by walking around its well-ordered clusters of three-story buildings and a synthetic turf avenue with a playground and soccer field.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2024

Palace hopes that she would be left alone to convalesce were dashed.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2024

She will convalesce at home for two to three months, according to her office at the palace, and will not return to official duties until after Easter, which falls on March 31 this year.

From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2024

So the king and the prime minister and the lord chancellor would all be looking for somewhere to convalesce it.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

We’re doing this interview over Skype – me in London lockdown, he at his 78-year-old mother’s house in the hills above Los Angeles: he’s looking after her while she convalesces from surgery.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 27, 2020

As Farrell’s character convalesces, it becomes increasingly unclear whether he is manipulating his female caregivers or whether they are playing out their own power games through him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2017

The hospital in which Moose convalesces from his heart attack is “a department store for sadness”; his cough is “small, way short of a proper hack, a kind of diet cough.”

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 14, 2016

Lundqvist is expected to miss at least two more weeks as he convalesces after a vascular injury to his neck.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2015

And since then continually, thanks to God, her Majesty convalesces better and better....

From Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 by Various

Their parents and grandparents convalesced there and sometimes died there, cared for by nurses who were part of the community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025

Lincoln helped run the government for months while Garfield convalesced, and though it initially seemed like the president would recover, his wounds became infected, and he died on Sept. 19, 1881.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2021

During Novak’s mental-health ordeal, she convalesced at home with her parents, making slow progress on her book, “How to Weep in Public,” which was published by Crown in 2016.

From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2021

Until the surge, the floor where they convalesced was reserved for all kinds of medical and surgical patients.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2020

For five years now she had convalesced in confinement, but she still had not healed.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

Seven medical professionals have been on trial since April over Maradona's death in 2020 while convalescing after surgery.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

Robert Dickman, for one, was convalescing at a hospital in Queens.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

Maradona was convalescing when he died of a heart attack at his home in 2020, aged 60.

From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2025

Pink needed two surgeries and almost two months of recovery at the same aviary where Blue is convalescing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2024

In keeping with the therapeutic mores of the age, he decided to do his convalescing in Europe, where the scenery also would provide an opportunity for him to enrich his visual vocabulary.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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Related Words

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