recidivate
4 synonyms for recidivate, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — To fall back into old, bad habits, especially by breaking the law again after already being punished for it.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Etymology
An adapted borrowing of Medieval Latin recidīvātus combined with -ate (a verb-forming suffix); recidīvātus was the past participle of recidīvō, from Latin recidīvus (“returning, recurring”) plus -ō (a verb-forming suffix). Compare French récidiver. Taken at face value it breaks down as recidive plus -ate.
Full origin of recidivate →