convalesce
Americanverb (used without object)
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convalesces,
present (3rd person singular)
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convalesced,
past participle, past
-
convalescing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
convalescesimple
-
convalescessimple
-
have convalescedperfect
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has convalescedperfect
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am convalescingprogressive
-
are convalescingprogressive
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is convalescingprogressive
-
have been convalescingperfect progressive
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has been convalescingperfect progressive
Past
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convalescedsimple
-
had convalescedperfect
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was convalescingprogressive
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were convalescingprogressive
-
had been convalescingperfect progressive
Future
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 )
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.
Vocabulary lists containing convalesce
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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:
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
Ginny Koong’s room was empty because she was downstairs with Dickie in his room, the two of them now recovered enough to convalesce together.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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
And when he suffered a punctured lung against Manchester United on a tour of the States, he convalesced at the Los Angeles home of McElhenney.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2025
The rooftops drew tenants outside with covered porches and reclining seats, on which tuberculosis patients convalesced.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2023
Commonly, it’s been the other way around — the women brandishing a gold medal or World Cup crown while the men convalesced.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 2, 2021
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
The Pope was breathing on his own, without oxygen tubes, despite being told by his doctors to spend two months convalescing after 38 days in hospital with double pneumonia.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 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
Despite the fact that Mr. Muhammad, convalescing, could no longer work the daily long hours he had previously worked in Chicago, he was now more than ever burdened with heavy decision-making and administrative duties.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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