Etymology
Origin of recurrence
Explanation
If something is happening yet again, there's a recurrence of it. Most sports fans hope there isn't a recurrence of last year's losing season. If you keep getting a hacking cough, then you're having a recurrence — that cough just keeps coming back. The word recurrence has to do with things that repeat or return, often at predictable times. If your dog barks at the same time every day, your neighbors might complain about the recurrence of noise. A note on using this word: reoccurrence means basically the same thing, but recurrence is considered a more stylish choice.
Vocabulary lists containing recurrence
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
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"Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving
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Vocabulary from Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (1918)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Recurrence intervals are expected to be very long during this slow phase, but the potential for high-magnitude events, such as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, remains and requires preparedness.
From Science Daily • Feb. 15, 2024
Recurrence works best when each return to a scene or idea gains further purchase on its meaning, complicating the argument.
From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2022
Recurrence is also a common complaint, health experts told Fox News.
From Fox News • Aug. 4, 2020
Recurrence intervals are averages, and averages are tricky: ten is the average of nine and eleven, but also of eighteen and two.
From The New Yorker • Jul. 20, 2015
Recurrence in the scar is rare; it is nearly always located in the glands.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
