Standard Lemma guide

recidivous

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /ɹɪˈsɪd.ɪ.vəs/
  • UK, US: /ɹəˈsɪd.ə.vəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: recidive, recidivist, recidivistic

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Recurring (of a disease or another medical problem).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: recidive

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Adapted borrowing of Latin recidīvus (“returning, recurring”) + -ous, from recidō (“fall back”). Doublet of recidive. By surface analysis, recidive + -ous.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: náchylný k recidivě — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Hungarian: visszaeső — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Italian: recidivo — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Russian: рецидиви́стский (recidivístskij) — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Russian: рециди́вный (recidívnyj) — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Russian: скло́нный к повторе́нию (sklónnyj k povtoréniju) — prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior
  • Czech: recidivní — recurring
  • Hungarian: kiújuló — recurring
  • Hungarian: visszatérő — recurring
  • Italian: recidivo — recurring
  • Russian: рециди́вный (recidívnyj) — recurring
  • Russian: повторя́ющийся (povtorjájuščijsja) — recurring