Meaning

4 senses
  1. (intransitive)To fall back again; to slide or turn back into a former state or practice.

    He has improved recently but keeps relapsing into states of utter confusion.

    to relapse into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism

    zurückfallen

    впадатьvpadatʹ

  2. (intransitive)To recur; to worsen, be aggravated (after a period of improvement).

    sich verschlimmern, sich verschlechtern

    обострятьсяobostrjatʹsja, рецидивироватьrecidivirovatʹ

  3. (informal, intransitive, specifically)To return to a vice, especially self-harm or alcoholism, failing to maintain abstinence.

    relapsed after 5 months of being clean

  4. To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.

More definitions
  • go back to bad behavior
  • deteriorate in health

Examples

16 sentences
  1. Tom has relapsed again.

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  2. Tom had a relapse.

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  3. A few months later, Tom relapsed.

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  4. Rodrigo has recently relapsed on drugs.

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  5. He got out last time, relapsed, and went back in.

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Translations

6 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
To fall back again:
(medicine) To recur; to worsen:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
To fall back again:
(medicine) To recur; to worsen:

Origin

From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“ba

From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“back”) + labi (“to slip, slide, fall”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

relapses, relapsing, relapsed, relapsed
Base formrelapse · to relapse
3rd person singularrelapses
Present participlerelapsing
Past simplerelapsed
Past participlerelapsed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyrelapse
he, she, itrelapses

Past simpleLesson

all personsrelapsed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave relapsed
he, she, ithas relapsed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill relapse

Synonyms

6 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

8 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
relapse — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto