recur

Verb

recur (third-person singular simple present recurs, present participle recurring, simple past and past participle recurred)

1. (intransitive) Of an event, situation, etc.: to appear or happen again, especially repeatedly.
   • The theme of the prodigal son recurs later in the third act.
   • For it is manifeſt, that all the Arguments that are brought Chap. 2, Sect. 3. vvill recur vvith full force in this place.1659, Henry More, chapter VI, in The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as It is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason, London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for William...

   Synonyms:

   recrudesce, recourse, rehappen, reoccur, repeat

   1. (intransitive) Of a disease or symptom: to happen again, especially repeatedly or after a remission or an apparent recovery.
      • The bullet had grazed the optic nerve. […] The oculist had warned him that the trouble might recur, that he ought to have remained under observation. Well, it had recurred about four months ago.1928 July 27, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 52, in The Well of Loneliness […], New York, N.Y.: Covici Friede Publishers, published December 1928, →OCLC, book 5, section 2, page 477
2. (intransitive) Of a memory, thought, etc.: to come to the mind again.
   • The Saturday at night before he ſuffered, he dream'd his chaine vvas brought to the Counter gate, that the next day being Sunday, he ſhould be had to Nevvgate and burned at Smithfield the Munday enſuing, vvhich after many frightfull avvakings, ſtill recurring to his troubled fancy, he aroſe, and...1651, Thomas Fuller, “The Life and Death of John Bradford”, in Abel Redevivus: Or, The Dead Yet Speaking. The Lives and Deaths of the Moderne Divines. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Brudenell for John...
   • […] Men that are of a talkative and melancholy temper see any kind of visions. And this, especially because they have so deep a resentment [i.e., impression] of the most affecting objects, whose images therefore recur to the fancy when they are asleep, in most distinct and lively figures.1665, John Spencer, “Many Modern Prophecies Proved to Arise from Melancholy”, in A Discourse Concerning Vulgar Prophecies […], London: […] J[ohn] Field for Timothy Garthwait, →OCLC, page 101
3. (dated, intransitive) To speak, think, or write about something again; to go back or return to a memory, a subject, etc.
   • But firſt I ſhall recurre, and give a touch upon the nature of Gravity.1662, Henry More, “An Antidote against Atheism: or, An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Mind of Man, whether there Be Not a God. … The Third Edition […]. Chapter I.”, in A Collection of Several...
   • But before vve proceed to vvhat paſſed on his Arrival in the Kitchin, it vvill be neceſſary to recur to vvhat had there happened ſince Partridge had firſt left it on his Maſter's Summons.1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing, among Other Things, the Ingenuity of Partridge, the Madness of Jones, and the Folly of Fitzpatrick”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London...
4. (archaic, intransitive) Followed by to, or (Scotland, obsolete) on or upon: to have recourse to someone or something for assistance, support, etc.; to appeal, to resort, to turn to.
   • [I]f his Grace vvere minded, or vvould intend to do a thing inique or injuſt, there vvere no need to recurr unto the Pope's Holineſe for doing thereof.1529 (date written), [Thomas Wolsey], “[A Collection of Records and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Former History.] XXII. The Second Part of a Long Dispatch of the...
   • And surely here I admire the goodnes of God towards our Nation, that he would Saint Austin [Augustine of Hippo] should enquire such small matters of S. Gregory, and that his questions should remaine to our dayes, both to shew vs by our first Apostle what account we should make of the resolution of...1609, [Richard Smith], “That Saint Austin was a Great Clerk and Excellent Diuine”, in The Prudentiall Ballance of Religion wherin the Catholike and Protestant Religion are Weighed together with the...
5. (intransitive) Synonym of recurse (“to execute a procedure recursively”).

   Synonyms:

   recurse

6. (intransitive) Often in the form recurring following a number: of a numeral or group of numerals in a decimal fraction: to repeat indefinitely.
   • One-third can be written in decimal form as 0.3333 …, or point three-recurring.
   • CIRCULATING Decimals, or Recurring Decimals, are those that consist of a repetition of a small number of digits, as 646464, &c. 4127127127, &c.; in fact, every decimal that is not finite, is a circulating decimal, or is such, that if continued far enough, the same figures will again recur; but it...1814, Peter Barlow, “CIRCULATING Decimals, or Recurring Decimals”, in A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary; […], London: […] Whittingham and Rowland, […]; for G[eorge] and S. Robinson...
7. (intransitive, obsolete) Followed by into or to: to go to a place again; to return.
   • [H]er conſtancy beganne to ſtagger, and her honeſty had enough to doe, recurring to her eyes to containe them, leſt they ſhould giue any demonſtration of the amorous compaſsion vvhich Lotharios vvordes and teares had ſtirred in her breaſt.1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein is Prosecuted the History of the Curious Impertinent”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the...
   • Cycle of the Sun is the revolution of 28 years, Cycle of the Moon the revolution of 19 years, in which time both of their motions recur to the ſame point.1658, Edward Phillips, compiler, “Cycle”, in The New World of English Words: Or, A General Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Tyler, for Nath[aniel] Brook […], →OCLC
8. (intransitive, obsolete) Followed by into or to: To go back to doing an activity, or to using a thing; to return.
   • I contrived for ſome time to carry on ſomething like a converſation vvith this vvoman, but vvas ſoon glad to put an end to it by recurring to my bottle.1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter I, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London...
   • After throwing out this pregnant hint, Mr Poyser recurred to his pipe and his silence, looking at Hetty to see if she did not give some sign of having renounced her ill-advised wish.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “In Hetty’s Bed-Chamber”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book fourth, page 317
9. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) Followed by to: to go to a place; to resort.
   • [T]he City grevv very populous, many recurring thither from all parts of Attica, for liberty and ſecurity, […]1655, Thomas Stanley, “[Solon.] Chap[ter] VI. His Lawes.”, in The History of Philosophy. […], volume I, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring, […], →OCLC, 1st part ([Containing Those on whom...
10. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) Followed by from: to move or run back from something; to recede, to withdraw.
    • If half the latitude of the firſt vvave be an aliquant part of the ſtring, after the motion has been propagated to the fartheſt extremity, there vvill be a nevv ſeries of leſs vvaves, recurring in a contrary direction.1784, Matthew Young, “Sect[ion] I. Of the Motion of an Elastic Fibre.”, in An Enquiry into the Principal Phænomena of Sounds and Musical Strings, Dublin: […] Joseph Hill, […], →OCLC, part II (On...