recurrent

adjective re·cur·rent \ ri-ˈkər-ənt , -ˈkə-rənt \

|Updated on: 7 Aug 2018

Editor's Note: recurrent vs. recurring

Definition of recurrent

1 : running or turning back in a direction opposite to a former course —used of various nerves and branches of vessels in the arms and legs

2 : returning or happening time after time

recurrent complaints

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recurrently

adverb

See recurrent defined for English-language learners

See recurrent defined for kids

Examples of recurrent in a Sentence

The loss of innocence is a recurrent theme in his stories.
had recurrent problems with the computer for months and finally junked it

Recent Examples of recurrent from the Web

But in a recent piece on women and true crime, Cammila Collar finds canny parallels between the recurrent subjects of true crime (love-gone-wrong, family conflict, domestic violence) and the hard numbers on gender and violence.

— megan abbott, latimes.com, "Why do we — women in particular — love true crime books?," 14 June 2018
The action comes against a backdrop of recurrent school shootings, everyday street violence in the nation's inner cities, and rising U.S. suicide rates.

— NBC News, "Frustrated American Medical Association adopts sweeping policies aimed at gun violence," 13 June 2018
The action comes against a backdrop of recurrent school shootings, everyday street violence in the nation’s inner cities, and rising U.S. suicide rates.

— Washington Post, "Frustrated AMA adopts sweeping policies to cut gun violence," 13 June 2018
The action comes against a backdrop of recurrent school shootings, everyday street violence in the nation's inner cities, and rising U.S. suicide rates.

— Fox News, "American physician group calls for major cutbacks on gun violence," 13 June 2018
The action comes against a backdrop of recurrent school shootings, everyday street violence in the nation’s inner cities, and rising U.S. suicide rates.

— Time, "Frustrated American Medical Association Changes Policies to Combat 'Disease' of Gun Violence," 12 June 2018
But by the mid-1990s, drug makers had convinced government regulators that when taken long-term, the medications sharply reduced the risk of relapse in people with chronic, recurrent depression.

— benedict carey, New York Times, "Antidepressants and Withdrawal: Readers Tell Their Stories," 17 Apr. 2018
The city’s dependency on the central government in Moscow was a recurrent theme in conversations with residents.

— ivan nechepurenko, New York Times, "Peeking Around Corners in the World Cup’s Provincial Cities," 14 July 2018
That subject, recurrent throughout Nkanga’s oeuvre, can be summarized as the exploitation of raw materials, the accompanying environmental and social destruction, and the human desire that ultimately drives it all.

— lori waxman, chicagotribune.com, "Human desire and exploitation: Don't miss a powerhouse show at the MCA by Otobong Nkanga," 5 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'recurrent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

recurrent vs. recurring

Is there a difference between recurring and recurrent? As is so often the case with nearly identical words, the answer is "yes and no." Both words are most commonly used in the sense "happening time after time." But recurrent, the more commonly-used of the two, tends to appear more often in medical contexts, as in “recurrent fevers” or “recurrent cancer.” It also has a specialized anatomical sense, "running or turning back in a direction opposite to a former course,” as in “a recurrent artery,” that recurring does not share. There are certainly circumstances in which either recurrent or recurring could be used; pain or needs might be described as either recurrent or recurring. But even in such cases, there may be subtle differences which you may wish to pay attention to. Recurrent tends to suggest a coming back of something that has existed before, whereas recurring often implies simply a repeated occurrence.