relapse

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

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈlæps/, /ˈɹiːˌlæps/

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• Rhymes: -æps

relapse (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.
   • 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., OCLC 222716698:

     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.

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

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

   to relapse into slumber after being disturbed

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.

   relapsed after 5 months of being clean

4. To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Hind and the Panther”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:

     You slip your hold and change your side,
     Relapsing from a necessary guide.

• (to fall back into a former state or practice): fall off the wagon

relapse (plural relapses)

1. The act or situation of relapsing.

   a drug relapse

   • 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 […], OCLC 228732398:

     Alas! from what high hope to what relapse / Unlooked for are we fallen!

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.

• relapse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• relapse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• relapse at OneLook Dictionary Search

• Leapers, Perales, leapers, pleaser, presale, repeals

From Latin relapsus.

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /rəˈlap.sə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /reˈlap.se/

relapse (feminine relapsa, masculine and feminine plural relapses)

1. (religion) relapsed

relapse m (plural relapses, feminine relapsa)

1. backslider (someone who has relapsed into sin or heresy)

• “relapse” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• IPA^(key): /reˈla.pse/
• Rhymes: -apse
• Hyphenation: re‧là‧pse

relapse

1. feminine plural of relapso

relapse f pl

1. plural of relapsa

• saperle, spelare, spelerà

relāpse

1. vocative masculine singular of relāpsus