relapse
Plural: relapses
Noun
- a failure to maintain a higher state
- The act or situation of relapsing.
- An occasion when a person becomes ill again after a period of improvement
- One who has relapsed, or fallen back into error; a backslider.
Verb
Verb Forms: relapsed, relapsing, relapses
- To fall back into a previous, often worse, condition.
- deteriorate in health
- "he relapsed"
- go back to bad behavior
- To fall back again; to slide or turn back into a former state or practice.
- To recur; to worsen, be aggravated (after a period of improvement).
- To return to a vice, especially self-harm or alcoholism, failing to maintain abstinence.
- To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.
Examples
- a drug relapse
- He has improved recently but keeps relapsing into states of utter confusion.
- He tried not to RELAPSE into his old habit of only playing short, safe words.
- relapsed after 5 months of being clean
- to relapse into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism
- to relapse into slumber after being disturbed
Origin / Etymology
From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“back”) + labi (“to slip, slide, fall”).
Synonyms
backsliding, fall back, get worse, lapse, lapsing, recidivate, regress, relapsing, retrogress, reversion, reverting
Antonyms
get well
Scrabble Score: 9
relapse: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordrelapse: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
relapse: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary