🔊 Pronunciation: /rɪˈkruːdɛs/
(ri-KROO-des)
🗣️ Part of Speech: Verb
Definition:
Recrudesce means to break out or become active again after a period of dormancy or inactivity, especially in reference to something undesirable, like a disease, conflict, or problem.
Examples:
- "After months of calm, tensions between the two groups recrudesced into violent clashes."
- "The disease recrudesced in several patients despite initial recovery."
- "Old habits of procrastination sometimes recrudesce even after years of self-discipline."
(Shows the conflict becoming active again after a dormant period.)
(Refers to the illness returning after seeming to disappear.)
(Highlights the reemergence of previous behaviors.)
🧠 Bonus Tip:
The word recrudesce comes from Latin recrudescere, meaning to grow raw again.
- It is often used in medical, historical, or metaphorical contexts to describe something unpleasant returning or flaring up.
💡 Think of it like:
A dormant problem or condition that suddenly resurfaces, like embers reigniting into flames.
Use “recrudesce” when something unwanted or problematic starts again after a period of quiet or dormancy.