RECUR (recurred, recurring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: recurred    , recurring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does recur mean? 

• RECUR (verb)
  The verb RECUR has 3 senses:

1. happen or occur again

2. return in thought or speech to something

3. have recourse to

  Familiarity information: RECUR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RECUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they recur    ... he / she / it recurs   
Past simple: recurred   
Past participle: recurred   
-ing form: recurring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Happen or occur again

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

recur; repeat

Context example:

This is a recurring story

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

go back; recur

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

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

fall back; recur; resort

Context example:

The government resorted to rationing meat

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

 Context examples 

A unit of recurring events expressed as a number of events per second.

(Count per Second, NCI Thesaurus)

Continually recurring or continuing without interruption.

(Constant, NCI Thesaurus)

He looked up so many new words that when they recurred, he had forgotten their meaning and had to look them up again.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The natural recurring desire for food.

(Appetite, NCI Thesaurus)

Approximately half of the cases recur.

(Multicystic Mesothelioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Those words of Mrs. Strong's were constantly recurring to me, at this time; were almost always present to my mind.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It may also be used in patients whose cancer has recurred (come back) after adjuvant therapy with these drugs.

(Ado-trastuzumab emtansine, NCI Dictionary)

It may recur and in a minority of cases may metastasize to distant anatomic sites.

(Adenosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Mental health disorders that first occur in adolescence are more severe and more likely to recur in later life.

(Recalling happy memories during adolescence can reduce risk of depression, University of Cambridge)

Adenoid cystic carcinomas spread along nerve sheaths, resulting in severe pain, and they tend to recur.

(Adenoid cystic carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)