recur
Americanverb (used without object)
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to occur again, as an event, experience, etc.
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to return to the mind.
The idea kept recurring.
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to come up again for consideration, as a question.
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to have recourse.
verb
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to happen again, esp at regular intervals
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(of a thought, idea, etc) to come back to the mind
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(of a problem, etc) to come up again
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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
- recurring adjective
- recurringly adverb
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.
Vocabulary lists containing recur
The Outsiders
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Make a Run for It: Cur, Curs
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Power Prefix: re-
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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.
Tillmans’ interest in stargazing goes back to his adolescence, and images of the moon and cosmos recur in his work.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026
"By targeting N4BP2 or the pathways it activates, we may be able to limit the genomic chaos that allows tumors to adapt, recur and become drug-resistant."
From Science Daily • Feb. 16, 2026
This pattern of capital flight would recur throughout American history.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
"However, to ensure that such failures never recur, a broader understanding is needed -- one that encompasses the inter-organisational and inter-hierarchical interfaces that have not yet been examined," he added.
From Barron's • Nov. 10, 2025
Nonetheless, visitors to Andean history note certain ways of doing things that recur in ways striking to the outsider, sometimes in one variant, sometimes in another, like the themes in a jazz improvisation.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
