recurring

Meanings

1. 1adjectivenot comparable

   Happening again and again over time, often following an earlier pattern or at fairly regular moments.

   Grammar: Usually comes before a noun; it can also follow linking verbs: a recurring delay, the delay is recurring.

   Patterns

   • a recurring problem
   • a recurring dream
   • a recurring theme in something

   She kept a notebook of every recurring error in the report.

   A recurring dream about missing the train made him anxious before interviews.

   The novel’s recurring image is a door left half open.

2. 2adjectivebefore a nounbusinessfinance

   Describes money, payments, costs, or income that repeat on a set schedule, such as weekly, monthly, or yearly.

   Grammar: Almost always comes directly before a business noun: recurring payment, not a payment is recurring in most office writing.

   Patterns

   • a recurring payment
   • recurring costs
   • recurring revenue

   Cancel the recurring payment if you no longer use the streaming service.

   The budget must allow for recurring costs such as rent and software licenses.

   Investors like the company because much of its income is recurring revenue.

3. 3adjectivebefore a nounmedical

   Describes an illness, pain, symptom, or difficulty that returns after a period of improvement or absence.

   Grammar: Common in medical and everyday health talk before a noun: a recurring infection; after a verb, say the infection keeps recurring.

   Patterns

   • a recurring infection
   • recurring back pain
   • a recurring symptom

   Warm weather did not stop her recurring migraines.

   He visited the clinic because of recurring knee pain after running.

   Doctors checked for signs of a recurring infection.

Common combinations

recurring problem

A recurring problem with the printer slowed down the whole office.

recurring theme

Trust is a recurring theme in the director’s films.

recurring nightmare

Before exams, he often had the recurring nightmare of arriving with no pen.

recurring payment

The app charged a recurring payment every month without a clear reminder.

recurring decimal

In math class, one third became the recurring decimal 0.333...

Synonyms and how they differ

repeated

Repeated only says something happened more than once; recurring often suggests a pattern over time.

recurrent

Recurrent is more formal and often describes illness, events, or themes that return.

periodic

Periodic stresses regular time gaps; recurring can be regular or simply happen again.

frequent

Frequent means happening often, but not necessarily as a repeated return of the same thing.

Opposites

Word family

recur verb

To happen again or come back: the same mistake recurs.

recurrence noun

An instance of something happening again.

recurrent adjective

Formal adjective for something that returns, especially symptoms or themes.

Commonly confused: recurring or reoccurring? recurring or occurring?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “recurring”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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