recuperate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
recuperates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recuperated,
past participle, past
-
recuperating
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
recuperates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recuperated,
past participle, past
-
recuperating
present participle
verb
-
(intr) to recover from illness or exhaustion
-
to recover (losses of money, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
recuperatesimple
-
recuperatessimple
-
have recuperatedperfect
-
has recuperatedperfect
-
am recuperatingprogressive
-
are recuperatingprogressive
-
is recuperatingprogressive
-
have been recuperatingperfect progressive
-
has been recuperatingperfect progressive
Past
-
recuperatedsimple
-
had recuperatedperfect
-
was recuperatingprogressive
-
were recuperatingprogressive
-
had been recuperatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recuperate
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin recuperātus (past participle of recuperāre, variant of reciperāre “to recover”), equivalent to re- re- + -ciper-, combining form of unattested caper- (obscure derivative of capere “to take”) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To recuperate is to get something back that you have lost — could be good health, or money lost in a bad investment. When you recuperate, you heal and recover. Recuperate comes from the Latin word recuperare “to take back,” so when you recuperate you gain something back that was yours before — health or money. Recuperate is usually something people do after an illness. If you break your knee playing rugby in college, you might go home to recuperate. If you don't want to sound fancy, just say you're recovering. It also means to get money back, so you can also try to recuperate your losses by staying in the poker game.
Vocabulary lists containing recuperate
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 5
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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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 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival announced Friday that it will take a “much-needed year off in 2027” to recuperate from back-to-back years of storms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It forced him to take a break so he could recuperate at home.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Last month, he was moved to house arrest to recuperate after being hospitalized with bronchopneumonia.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
She is a business owner and author who suffers with fatigue due to Hashimoto's disease and fibromyalgia, so says screen time for her children allows her to rest and recuperate.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
But the fact that I survived physically, that in a time period well into my fifties I never collapsed or needed time off to recuperate, is something I am inordinately proud of.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Once she recuperates, she plans to return to part-time consulting to keep her mind active and feel productive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
The two engagements for Prince William are close to home - at Windsor Castle and in central London - as his wife recuperates in Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2024
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said he would ask the chamber this week to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee while she recuperates.
From Reuters ● Apr. 18, 2023
Feinstein is working while she recuperates, her spokesperson Adam Russell told the San Francisco Chronicle, but she cannot vote without being on the Senate floor or in committee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2023
Youth recuperates quickly, and after a night's sound sleep she was glowing with health and sweet vitality.
From A Texas Ranger by William MacLeod Raine
While the dog recuperated, a woman arrived at the shelter later that day to report that her dog, Teddy, had been missing for more than a month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
After Coronado recuperated, he marched east until the Spaniards encountered 12 Tiwa pueblos near present-day Albuquerque, N.M.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
The Americans turned the screw in the third quarter as Auston Matthews recuperated a loose puck and set up Jake Guentzel, who blasted past Sogaard.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
While they recuperated, there was no-one to keep her entertained.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2024
She had recuperated in the Birthing Unit for the first week, tended and checked—pampered a bit, actually, she realized.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
Jin has been recuperating in the United States and spending time with his family, who relocated there as Zion came under pressure from authorities in 2018.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Seven health care workers are accused of criminal negligence over the care Maradona received before his death at age 60 in November 2020, while he was recuperating from brain surgery.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Now celebrating its 75th anniversary, Twig's story began in a Tokyo hospital bed where Floyd Hartwig was recuperating after being shot in both legs during the Korean War.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Deulofeu can be seen studying the science behind his recovery while recuperating in oxygen machines or during rest periods.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
When Sophie Scholl’s boyfriend, Fritz Hartnagel, heard of Sophie’s arrest, he discharged himself from a military hospital, where he was recuperating from a war injury.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
