Library / English Dictionary

RECUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: recurred    , recurring   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Happen or occur again

Example:

This is a recurring story

Synonyms:

recur; repeat

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "recur" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "recur"):

iterate (run or be performed again)

cycle (recur in repeating sequences)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

recurrence (happening again (especially at regular intervals))

recurrent (recurring again and again)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Return in thought or speech to something

Synonyms:

go back; recur

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "recur" is one way to...):

come back; hark back; recall; return (go back to something earlier)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Have recourse to

Example:

The government resorted to rationing meat

Synonyms:

fall back; recur; resort

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "recur" is one way to...):

apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The study found women with a low risk of the cancer recurring didn't benefit from chemotherapy.

(Study Shows Chemotherapy Not Needed To Treat Many Breast Cancers, Carol Pearson/VOA)

More than 1 in 10 people in the US experience recurring headaches known as migraines.

(How Light Boosts Migraine Pain, NIH, US)

It is manifested with recurring urinary tract infections.

(Chronic bacterial prostatitis, NCI Thesaurus)

Chordomas tend to recur and may metastasize.

(Chordoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A Leydig cell tumor which does not recur or metastasize.

(Benign Leydig Cell Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

It would be likely to recur to a man in a delirium.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The question again recurred, to be answered only with groans.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Eleanor made no answer; and Catherine's thoughts recurring to something more directly interesting, she added, thinking aloud, Monday—so soon as Monday; and you all go.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A thousand vexatious thoughts would recur.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Of all the amazing things which had happened, this seemed to have impressed my uncle most, and he recurred to it again and again.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)