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.
While it can cause painful blisters or ulcers that recur over time, it can lay dormant with most people having no symptoms - and Helen never had a cold sore herself.
From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026
This pattern of capital flight would recur throughout American history.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
It is classified as high risk when tumors are more likely to recur or spread into the bladder's muscle layer or to other areas of the body.
From Science Daily • Nov. 11, 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
It has been suggested that the major ice ages on our planet, which recur every hundred million years or so, may be due to the interposition of interstellar matter between the Sun and the Earth.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
