relapse
Definitions
A return of illness, addiction, or bad behavior after a period of improvement.
复发；故态复萌（在好转一段时间后再度恶化或重蹈覆辙）。
To slip back into a former, worse state of illness or behavior.
（病情）复发；重新陷入旧的、更糟的状态。
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedre- (back) + lapse (slip) = to slip back. Someone who had recovered from an illness or broken a habit quietly slides back into it. The 'slip' image makes it sound involuntary — a relapse feels like losing your footing, not choosing to fail.
Root laps still carries 3 more wordsCommon Collocations
- 1.suffer a relapse病情复发
- 2.prevent a relapse预防复发
- 3.relapse rate复发率
- 4.risk of relapse复发风险
- 5.trigger a relapse引发复发
Example Sentences
- 1.
After months of recovery, he suffered a sudden relapse.
- 2.
Without support, many patients relapse within a year.
- 3.
She worried that one drink could trigger a relapse.
- 4.
The clinic tracks how often former addicts relapse.
Easily Confused
relapse vs recurrence — In medicine, a relapse is the same illness returning after a recovery that wasn't complete; a recurrence is a new episode after a full recovery. Casually they overlap, but relapse stresses 'sliding back,' recurrence stresses 'happening again.'
Synonym Comparison
- relapse — slide back into illness or a bad habit after improving
- recurrence — a fresh episode after full recovery
- regression — a general move backward to an earlier, less developed state
- setback — a single problem that slows progress, not a full return
- backslide — informal, often moral or religious, returning to old bad ways