relapse
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
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an act or instance of relapsing.
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a return of a disease or illness after partial recovery from it.
verb
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to lapse back into a former state or condition, esp one involving bad habits
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to become ill again after apparent recovery
noun
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the act or an instance of relapsing
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the return of ill health after an apparent or partial recovery
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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relapsesimple
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relapsessimple
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have relapsedperfect
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has relapsedperfect
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am relapsingprogressive
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are relapsingprogressive
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is relapsingprogressive
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have been relapsingperfect progressive
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has been relapsingperfect progressive
Past
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relapsedsimple
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had relapsedperfect
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was relapsingprogressive
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were relapsingprogressive
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had been relapsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of relapse
First recorded in 1400–50; (for the verb) late Middle English, from Latin relāpsus “slid back,” past participle of relābī “to slide back, revert,” from re- re- + lābī “to fall, slide, make a mistake”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
A relapse is a decline, especially of someone's health. If your grandmother survived cancer only to have it return two years later, you could say she suffered a relapse. Relapse implies that someone has recovered from an illness and slid back into a worse state, like when you are getting over a cold but then you suddenly feel bad all over again. Unwanted behavior can also be described this way; if you find yourself biting your nails again, it's a nail-biting relapse. The Latin word relabi is the root of relapse, slip back.
Vocabulary lists containing relapse
Spinnin' Around
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Esperanza Rising
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100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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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.
See Examples For:
The illness is characterized by discomfort, and while it can be frustrating when symptoms relapse, it’s not life-threatening for most people, according to the CDC.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Some experts think they could make the behaviors worse or cause people to relapse, especially for conditions like anorexia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Around 6.7 million people in the U.S. and 160 million worldwide develop the condition in their lifetime, but current therapies for alopecia have high relapse rates, Nektar said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 2026
Most patients experience a relapse, followed by rapid disease progression.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2026
Despite Roosevelt’s improvement, Kermit knew that even though his father was no longer delirious, he was still weak and vulnerable to a relapse.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
The European Commission approved Cenrifki for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis without relapses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
If a patient relapses or breaks a rule in a rehab facility, the knee-jerk impulse should not be to discharge them from the program.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2025
She’s not sure how her policy on relapses fits in.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
Trials show cladribine can reduce the number and severity of relapses.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2025
Sometimes, when I have relapses of my old demon, I lie in the crook of his arm and he comforts me this way, talking to me all night long to stave off the bad dreams.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
After her condition relapsed before joining OpenAI, Simo decided to work remotely from Southern California.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The Food and Drug Administration has accepted a biologics license application for anito-cel as a fourth-line treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
But in 2017 she relapsed, with Ms Tucker saying at this stage the tumour "eventually took over".
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
Notably, 35 percent of the individuals who were in remission at the 2.5-year follow-up had relapsed to either full or sub-threshold binge-eating disorder at the 5-year follow-up.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
For a moment he relapsed into his old Gollum-manner.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
This allowed them to identify traces of several pathogens, including Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague, and Borrelia recurrentis, which causes louse borne relapsing fever.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Almost a decade later, the Times looks to be relapsing into bad form.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2026
Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs "are a really valuable tool in obesity treatment -- but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition."
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
The Swiss pharmaceutical group said Monday that fenebrutinib met its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
"Alive," she echoes, as if she were relapsing to her old quoting days.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
