recidivism
noun
Did you know?
The re- in recidivism is the same re- in relapse and return, and like those words recidivism is about going back: it’s a tendency to relapse, especially into criminal behavior. Recidivism is a 19th century French borrowing that’s ultimately from a Latin word meaning “to relapse into sin or crime.” In borrowing recidivism, English was itself engaging in a kind of recidivism: the same Latin source of recidivism had been nabbed in the 16th century to form the much less common recidivate, meaning “to fall into or exhibit recidivism.”
Examples of recidivism in a Sentence
Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2025
Project Rebound has served 830 individuals since its inception in 2016 and boasts a recidivism rate of just 3%, compared with California’s average of 40% to 45%, Rochon said.
—Lou Ponsi, Oc Register, 29 Sep. 2025
The educational program at Pelican Bay is the first of its kind ever implemented at a maximum-security prison in California and is helping to reduce recidivism rates while increasing employment opportunities for parolees, officials say.
—Johnny Dodd, PEOPLE, 29 Sep. 2025
The idea was to reduce crime, alcoholism and recidivism, said Jack Rein, executive director of The Oscar Getz Museum of Bourbon History in Bardstown, Kentucky.
—Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for recidivism
Cite this Entry
“Recidivism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recidivism. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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recidivism
noun
A. E. Kazdin et al.Legal Definition
recidivism
noun
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