Meaning & use
recurrence
Last updated
UK/rɪˈkʌr.əns/
US/rɪˈkɝː.əns/
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
An occasion when something happens again, especially something unwelcome.
Grammar: Often followed by of: a recurrence of the problem.
Patterns
- a recurrence of something
- prevent a recurrence
The mayor promised steps to prevent a recurrence of the flooding.
Doctors watch closely for any recurrence of the illness.
A recurrence of the old injury ended his season.
Word forms
| plural | recurrences |
|---|
Common combinations
- prevent a recurrence
- New locks should prevent a recurrence of the theft.
- risk of recurrence
- The risk of recurrence is low.
- frequent recurrence
- The frequent recurrence of errors worried the team.
- cancer recurrence
- Check-ups aim to catch cancer recurrence early.
- avoid a recurrence
- We must avoid a recurrence of last year's delays.
Synonyms and how they differ
- repetition
- Repetition can be deliberate, while recurrence usually means something returns on its own.
- return
- Return is plainer and more general than recurrence.
- relapse
- Relapse applies to a person getting worse again, while recurrence applies to the problem returning.
- reappearance
- Reappearance simply means showing up again, without the idea of a repeated problem.
Opposites
Word family
- recur verb
- to happen again
- recurrent adjective
- happening repeatedly
- recurring adjective
- happening again and again
- recurrently adverb
- in a repeated way
Commonly confused: recurrence or occurrence?
recurrence vs occurrence
An occurrence is any single event; a recurrence is an event happening again.
Practice
The doctor said there is a small chance of ______ of the infection next winter.
Choose one answer.
Recurrence means happening again. Occurrence is similar in spelling but means a single event and lacks the idea of return.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “recurrence”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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