Meanings
plural recrudescences
- countableuncountableThe condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.First known use mid 17th c.
A blinding sunlight drowned all this at times in a sudden recrudescence of glare.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 2043 more examples
The population of particular countries, or districts of country, may be given up to less improving pursuits than those of agriculture. A recrudescence of barbarism may condemn it [i.e., land] to chronic poverty and waste.
1887, Duke of Argyll [i.e., George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll], “The Age of Covenants”, in Scotland as It Was and as It Is, 2nd edition, Edinburgh: David Douglas, →OCLC, page 134Of course, bad habits die hard, and even with the new policy there were recrudescences of the prior practices in the following years.
1996 spring, Albert E. Gunn; George O. Zenner, Jr., “Religious Discrimination in the Selection of Medical Students: A Case Study”, in Issues in Law and Medicine, volume 11, number 4, Terre Haute, Ind.: National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent & Disabled and the Horatio R. Storer Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, pages 363–378; republished in The Linacre Quarterly: Journal of the Catholic Medical Association, volume 63, number 3, Wynnewood, Pa.: Catholic Medical Association, August 1996, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52High serum melatonin concentrations generally suppress reproduction in male squamates. Pinealectomy, which eliminates most melatonin secretion, induces testicular recrudescence in male green anoles, Anolis carolinensis, in autumn, but not in summer[…]. Injected melatonin does not inhibit testicular recrudescence in pinealectomized males, but does so in intact males[…].
2015, James U. Van Dyke, “Cues for Reproduction in Squamate Reptiles”, in Justin L. Rheubert, Dustin S. Siegel, Stanley E. Trauth, editors, Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Lizards and Tuatara (Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny; 10), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 119Synonyms: recrudency, reincrudation
- broadlycountableuncountablemedicineThe acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement.
Very probably however, ſuppoſing Mr. Dwight's Account to be Fact, not more than one Conſtitution in one Million is liable to ſuch repeated and diſtant Recrudeſcences of this Diſeaſe.
1754, J[ames] Kirkpatrick, “Section II. Of the Variolous Fuel, or Internal Inherent Cause of the Small Pox.”, in The Analysis of Inoculation: Comprizing the History, Theory, and Practice of It: With an Occasional Consideration of the Most Remarkable Appearances in the Small Pox, London: Printed for J. Millan, […]; J[ames] Buckland, […]; and R[alph] Griffiths, […], →OCLC, page 342 more examples
In other cases the wound opens of itself, and discharges a peculiar matter. Something similar is known to take place in traumatic tetanus; and although in this affection, as well as in hydrophobia, we cannot explain why the phenomenon of recrudescence does not occur in many fatal examples, yet we ought not therefore to deny that in those cases in which it does appear, the connexion between the recrudescence and the disease is most remarkable.
1833, J. L. Bardsley, “HYDROPHOBIA”, in John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly, editors, The Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine; […], volumes II (EME–ISC), London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper; Baldwin and Cradock, […]; Whittaker, Treacher, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 484, column 1It becomes very difficult under many circumstances to distinguish between an epidemic solely due to recrudescence of the cholera principle retained from previous outbreak, and an epidemic the result of fresh introduction.
1877, Charles Alexander Gordon, “Recurring Epidemics; Recrudescence”, in Notes on the Hygiene of Cholera for Ready Reference, London: Bailliere, Tindall, & Cox; Madras: Gantz Brothers, […]; Bombay; Calcutta: Thacker & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 5, page 10 - countableuncountablebiologyThe production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike.
2 more examples
[Frédéric] Kirschleger describes a tuft of leaves as occurring on the apex of the flowering spike after the maturation of the fruit in Plantago, and a similar growth frequently takes place in the common wallflower, in Antirrhinum majus, &c. In cases where a renewal of growth in the axis of inflorescence has taken place after the ripening of the fruit, the French botanists use the term recrudescence, but the growth in question by no means always occurs after the ripening of the fruit, but frequently before.
[1869, Maxwell T[ylden] Masters, “Prolification”, in Vegetable Teratology, an Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants (Ray Society; XLV), London: Published for the Ray Society by Robert Hardwicke, […], →OCLC, book I (Deviations from Ordinary Arrangement), part III (Alterations of Position), page 104A great many of the scapes have furnished examples of "recrudescence," a few flowers having been produced amongst the ripening capsules; but fresh flower-stalks have also continued to shoot up from the root, and at the time I write (Oct. 4) I see there is one very pretty bunch of flowers upon a last year's seedling plant.
1872, Robert Holland, “Monstrous Plants in 1872”, in J[ohn] E[llor] Taylor, editor, Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip: An Illustrated Medium of Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of Nature, volume VIII, number 96, London: Robert Hardwicke, […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 271, column 1
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*krewh₂-“blood outside the body”
- Latinrecrūdēscēns
- Late Latinrecrūdēscentia
- Englishrecrudescence
From Late Latin recrūdēscentia, from Latin recrūdēscēns, present participle of recrūdēscere (“to recrudesce”), from recrūdēscō (“(of a wound) to break open again; (of a fight, sedition,...) to break out again, be rekindled”); from re- (“again”) + crūdēscō (“to grow harsh or violent; to become worse”) (from crūdus (“bleeding, bloody, raw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“blood outside the body”)) + -ēscō (suffix forming verbs indicating a becoming of something)). The word is cognate with French recrudescence, Italian recrudescenza, Spanish recrudescencia, recrudecimiento.
More words from Late Latin, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian рецидив
- рецидив (recidiv)acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
French recrudescence
- recrudescenceacute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
German Wiedererstarken
- Wiedererstarkencondition or state of being recrudescent
Greek επανεμφάνιση, υποτροπή
- επανεμφάνιση (epanemfánisi)acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
- υποτροπή (ypotropí)acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
Italian recrudescenza
- recrudescenzaacute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
Russian рециди́в, обостре́ние
- рециди́в (recidív)acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
- обостре́ние (obostrénije)acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
Spanish recrudecimiento, recrudescencia
- recrudecimientoacute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
- recrudescenciaacute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement
Cite this entry
recrudescence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recrudescence
“recrudescence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recrudescence. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “recrudescence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recrudescence.
Source: recrudescence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.