recidivate
/rɪˈsɪdɪveɪt/
recidivate verb: to relapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially to commit new offenses after having been punished or sanctioned for earlier ones.
Verb
recidivate (third-person singular simple present recidivates, present participle recidivating, simple past and past participle recidivated)
- To relapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially to commit new offenses after having been punished or sanctioned for earlier ones.
- Synonyms:
- recidivize
Synonyms of recidivate
Forms of recidivate
| third-person singular present | recidivates |
|---|---|
| present participle | recidivating |
| past participle | recidivated |
| past | recidivated |
Origin of recidivate
Adapted borrowing of Medieval Latin recidīvātus + -ate (verb-forming suffix), past participle of recidīvō, from Latin recidīvus (“returning, recurring”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Compare French récidiver. By surface analysis, recidive + -ate
Questions about recidivate
- What does recidivate mean?
- Recidivate means to relapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially to commit new offenses after having been punished or sanctioned for earlier ones.
- What part of speech is recidivate?
- Recidivate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce recidivate?
- Recidivate is pronounced /rɪˈsɪdɪveɪt/.
- What is the past tense of recidivate?
- The past tense of recidivate is recidivated.
Words near recidivate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: recidivate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-recidivate.wav.
Cite this entry: “recidivate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recidivate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.