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# recurrence

noun (a recurrence, recurrences)

«recurrence» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A recurrence is when something happens again, especially something bad like an illness or a problem. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#m1)
2. (maths, formal) A recurrence is a rule where each number in a pattern is found from the ones before it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#m2)

### In the lessons

It appears in health talk («a recurrence of the illness»), in safety notices («to prevent a recurrence») and in maths about patterns and sequences. It tells the reader that something has come back. Phrases: «prevent a recurrence», «a recurrence of», «risk of recurrence».

### Examples

- The school changed the lock to prevent a recurrence of the break-in. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x1)
- The doctor watched for any recurrence of the fever. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x2)
- There was a recurrence of flooding after the heavy rain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x3)
- We hope there will be no recurrence of this bad behaviour. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x4)
- The Fibonacci numbers come from a recurrence: add the two numbers before. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x5)
- The headteacher wrote that she wanted no recurrence of the fight. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x6)
- The recurrence of the noise made the dog bark. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/#x7)

### Note

Noun of «recur»; spelt with double r and -ence (not -ance). Countable: a recurrence, recurrences. A slightly formal word; in everyday talk people say «it happened again». In a number pattern, a recurrence rule tells you how to get the next number from earlier ones.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «recurrence» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/recurrence/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«recurrence» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/recurrence.html) on Mova free.