to lapse back into a former state or condition, esp one involving bad habits to become ill again after apparent recovery
the act or an instance of relapsing the return of ill health after an apparent or partial recovery
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
re•lapse /v. rɪˈlæps; n. also ˈrilæps/USA pronunciation
v., -lapsed, -laps•ing, n.
v. [no object]
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025v. [no object]
- to fall or slip back into a former state or practice:to relapse into silence.
- Pathologyto fall back into illness after seeming to get better or be recovering:He relapsed into a coma.
n. [countable]
- an act or instance of relapsing.
- Pathologya return of a disease after one has partly recovered from it.
re•lapse
(v. ri laps′;n. ri laps′, rē′laps),USA pronunciation v., -lapsed, -laps•ing, n.
v.i.
n.
re•laps′a•ble, adj.
re•laps′er, n.
v.i.
- to fall or slip back into a former state, practice, etc.:to relapse into silence.
- Pathologyto fall back into illness after convalescence or apparent recovery.
- to fall back into vice, wrongdoing, or error;
backslide:to relapse into heresy.
n.
- an act or instance of relapsing.
- Pathologya return of a disease or illness after partial recovery from it.
- Medieval Latin relāpsus, equivalent. to Latin relāb(ī) + -sus for -tus suffix of verb, verbal action
- Latin relāpsus, past participle of relābī to slide back, revert (re- re- + lāb- verb, verbal stem + -sus for -tus past participle suffix); (noun, nominal) late Middle English
- (verb, verbal) late Middle English 1400–50
re•laps′er, n.
- 3.See corresponding entry in Unabridged regress, revert, lapse.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'relapse' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):