recrudescence
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of recrudescence
First recorded in 1715–25; from Latin recrūdēsc(ere) “to recrudesce ” + -ence
Explanation
When something that's bad comes back to haunt you, call it a recrudescence. It's not a word you'll hear often, but it's useful. Don't confuse recrudescence with resurgence, which is neutral and could be used just as easily to describe an increase in crime as to describe the return of warm weather in the spring. Recrudescence is bad. Use it to talk about a new growth of pimples, the return of the symptoms of a disease, or an underground crime ring.
Vocabulary lists containing recrudescence
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.
Who would benefit from the end of community fluoridation and a recrudescence of tooth decay?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
“I don’t think this is reinfection. I think this is recrudescence of the original infection.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2022
One concerns the recrudescence of a variety of nationalism that is Orientalist whenever it arises in the Asian context.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2018
Europe as a whole needed the German economy to recover, but everyone, especially the French, feared a recrudescence of German power.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 17, 2016
She thought it a recrudescence of her old, strong love for the man; it was in fact only such a feeling as she might have had for a sick or wounded beast.
From The Sea Bride by Ben Ames Williams
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.
