relapse
to fall or slip back into a former state, practice, etc.: to relapse into silence.
to fall back into illness after convalescence or apparent recovery.
to fall back into vice, wrongdoing, or error; backslide: to relapse into heresy.
an act or instance of relapsing.
a return of a disease or illness after partial recovery from it.
Origin of relapse
1Other words for relapse
Other words from relapse
- re·laps·a·ble, adjective
- re·laps·er, noun
- un·re·laps·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use relapse in a sentence
One grouping of relapses came around 18 months after surgery, and a second smaller one cropped up around 60 months.
Outside the ring, there were more clashes with the law, more rehabs, more relapses, and even a drug-induced coma in early 2003.
Some new research suggests people who take antidepressants are more likely to experience relapses of depression.
We know the course he ultimately chose, if not that very day and not without a few relapses.
Notwithstanding complete recovery, relapses are prone to occur whenever the patient undergoes a severe emotional strain.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin Malley
"I am sorry," he said, with one of the sudden relapses into old age that Lady Cantourne dreaded.
With Edged Tools | Henry Seton MerrimanThe duration of the disease is variable, and relapses are common.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin | Henry Weightman StelwagonShe knew that every intermission would be followed by a relapse, and Harding's state did not admit of any relapses.
The Flaw in the Crystal | May SinclairPeering after them with wistful glasses, the third person relapses altogether into the first.
Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front | E. W. Hornung
British Dictionary definitions for relapse
to lapse back into a former state or condition, esp one involving bad habits
to become ill again after apparent recovery
the act or an instance of relapsing
the return of ill health after an apparent or partial recovery
Origin of relapse
1Derived forms of relapse
- relapser, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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