Definition of "relapse"

relapse

/ɹɪˈlæps/

verb
third-person singular simple present relapses, present participle relapsing, simple past and past participle relapsed
1. (intransitive) To fall back again; to slide or turn back into a former state or practice.
  Quotations
  Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
2. (intransitive, medicine, of a disease) To recur; to worsen, be aggravated (after a period of improvement).
3. (intransitive, informal, specifically) To return to a vice, especially self-harm or alcoholism, failing to maintain abstinence.
4. To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.
  Quotations
  You slip your hold and change your side, Relapsing from a necessary guide.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “The Hind and the Panther”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
noun
plural relapses
1. The act or situation of relapsing.
  Quotations
  Alas! from what high hope to what relapse / Unlooked for are we fallen!
  1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […]
2. (medicine) An occasion when a person becomes ill again after a period of improvement
3. (obsolete) One who has relapsed, or fallen back into error; a backslider.

Definition of "relapse"

relapse

verb

Quotations

Quotations

noun

Quotations