relapse

Meanings

Verb

• To fall back again; to slide or turn back into a former state or practice.
• To recur; to worsen, be aggravated .
• To return to a vice, especially self-harm or alcoholism, failing to maintain abstinence.
• To slip or slide back physically; to turn back.

Noun

• The act or situation of relapsing.
• An occasion when a person becomes ill again after a period of improvement
• One who has relapsed, or fallen back into error; a backslider.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• fall off the wagon

Origin

• From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi, from re- + labi.