relapse
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“back”) + labi (“to slip, slide, fall”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹɪˈlæps/, /ˈɹiːˌlæps/
Audio (Southern England): (file) Audio (Southern England): (file)
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -æps
Verb
relapse (third-person singular simple present relapses, present participle relapsing, simple past and past participle relapsed)
- (intransitive) To fall back again; to slide or turn back into a former state or practice.
- He has improved recently but keeps relapsing into states of utter confusion.
- to relapse into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism
- to relapse into slumber after being disturbed
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
- (intransitive, medicine, of a disease) To recur; to worsen, be aggravated (after a period of improvement).
- (intransitive, informal, specifically) To return to a vice, especially self-harm or alcoholism, failing to maintain abstinence.
- relapsed after 5 months of being clean
- To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Hind and the Panther”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- You slip your hold and change your side,
Relapsing from a necessary guide.
Hyponyms
- (to fall back into a former state or practice): fall off the wagon
Derived terms
Translations
To fall back again
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(medicine) To recur; to worsen
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Noun
relapse (plural relapses)
- The act or situation of relapsing.
- a drug relapse
- 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
- Alas! from what high hope to what relapse / Unlooked for are we fallen!
- (medicine) An occasion when a person becomes ill again after a period of improvement
- (obsolete) One who has relapsed, or fallen back into error; a backslider.
Translations
the act or situation of relapsing
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See also
Further reading
- “relapse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “relapse”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “relapse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
relapse (feminine relapsa, masculine and feminine plural relapses)
Noun
relapse m (plural relapses, feminine relapsa)
- backslider (someone who has relapsed into sin or heresy)
Further reading
- “relapse” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Pronunciation
Adjective
relapse
Noun
relapse f pl
Anagrams
Participle
relāpse
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