recur

American  

[ri-kur] / rɪˈkɜr /

verb (used without object)

• recurs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• recurred,
  past participle,  past
• recurring
  present participle

1. to occur again, as an event, experience, etc.

2. to return to the mind.

   The idea kept recurring.

3. to come up again for consideration, as a question.

4. to have recourse.

---

recur British  

/ rɪˈkɜː /

verb

1. to happen again, esp at regular intervals

2. (of a thought, idea, etc) to come back to the mind

3. (of a problem, etc) to come up again

4. maths (of a digit or group of digits) to be repeated an infinite number of times at the end of a decimal fraction

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• recurring
  adjective
• recurringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• recurring
  present
• recurred
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• recur
  simple
• recurs
  simple
• have recurred
  perfect
• has recurred
  perfect
• am recurring
  progressive
• are recurring
  progressive
• is recurring
  progressive
• have been recurring
  perfect progressive
• has been recurring
  perfect progressive

Past

• recurred
  simple
• had recurred
  perfect
• was recurring
  progressive
• were recurring
  progressive
• had been recurring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will recur
  simple
• will have recurred
  perfect
• will be recurring
  progressive
• will have been recurring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of recur

1610–20; earlier: to recede < Latin recurrere to run back, equivalent to re- re- + currere to run

Explanation

Have you ever had the same crazy dream night after night? If so, you know that dreams can recur, meaning they repeat, or happen again. The verb recur is used to describe something that happens over and over, whether it’s an injury, an argument, or a character who pops up from time to time on a television show. Recur often describes an event that happens repeatedly, but it can also be used to describe something, such as an image or a memory, that for some reason just keeps popping back up in your mind, like self-doubt that recurs every time you worry about something.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recur recurs recurred recurring

In the remaining lore, myths recur of episodes of runaway planetary temperature changes, hot and cold, as well as a series of volcanic blasts that changed the globe.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

However, 1Q FY 2027 earnings could moderate sequentially as the 35 million ringgit JV dividend income in previous quarter is unlikely to recur, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

But “Kiki” holds several themes that recur in Miyazaki’s work.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026

“I got the audition last year, about April,” Callan recalled, “just to recur. And I said, ‘This is silly, they’re not going to cast a Los Angeles actor to go recur in Massachusetts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

People stopped sleeping in their houses, terrified at the thought that such a disaster could recur, improvising tents in open spaces or sleeping in the middle of squares and streets.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

Triple-negative breast cancer recurs and spreads after an average of around 2½ years, compared with five years for other breast cancers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

It's a theme that recurs on subsequent tracks - perhaps suggesting that BTS were wary about dipping their toes back into the choppy waters of fame.

From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026

If the same pattern recurs, employment gains last month could be stronger than expected.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026

That conflict between “progress” and “tradition” has never been resolved, and recurs in every generation.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025

The pyramid shape recurs throughout history and in diverse cultures, many of which have thought the shape itself had magic powers.

From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell

Insurance company Allianz modeled how countries would fare if the five hottest years each experienced between 2014 and 2024 recurred in succession.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Ireland centre Garry Ringrose withdrew from the British and Irish Lions starting line-up for the second Test in Australia, telling coaches that symptoms from a head knock a fortnight earlier had recurred.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025

As someone who has always had a masochistic streak, finding out that these sequences of cars speeding down darkened paths recurred in Lynch’s other works both delighted and horrified me.

From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2025

I told him so when I recurred on The Odd Couple.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2023

Then real fear came as her illness recurred at shorter intervals.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

There before him was a literal snapshot of his checking and savings account balances, various construction costs for a house project, and recurring charges for Netflix and car insurance, courtesy of his agent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

El Nino is a natural phenomenon recurring every two to seven years due to the warming of sea surfaces, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

In the mid-1970s, he had a recurring role as soldier Martin Gimbel in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

He thinks the company could generate about $15,000 in recurring software revenue each month for every truck equipped with autonomous-vehicle technology.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

She spotted individual marks recurring again and again on a single page, and found entire clusters replicated, sometimes ten or thirty times in perfect patterns.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

Related Words

• persist
• reappear