recidivist

English

Etymology

From French récidiviste, from Latin recidīvus (“returning, recurring”). Compare recidivous, -ist. By surface analysis, recidive +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• (weak vowel distinction) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈsɪdɪvɪst/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈsɪdəvɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

recidivist (plural recidivists)

1. One who falls back into prior habits, especially criminal habits.

   Synonym: repeat offender

   • 1914, R. Austin Freeman, chapter 2, in The Uttermost Farthing:

     This specimen was of English parentage, was a professional burglar, a confirmed recidivist, and—since he habitually carried firearms—a potential homicide.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians: Law and Defense Codex entry:

     Persistent recidivists are "accidentally" left on the next habitable world. This practice of abandoning criminals on other people's planets is a point of friction between the quarians and the systems they pass through. Captains rarely have another choice; with space and resources at a premium, supporting a non-productive prison population is not an option.

Derived terms

• nonrecidivist
• recidivistic

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱh₂d- (0 c, 34 e)

Translations

one who falls back into prior habits, especially criminal habits

• Bulgarian: рецидиви́ст (bg) m (recidivíst), рецидиви́стка f (recidivístka)
• Czech: recidivista (cs) m
• Danish: recidivist c
• Dutch: recidivist (nl)
• French: récidiviste (fr) m or f
• German: Wiederholungstäter (de) m, Wiederholungstäterin (de) f
• Indonesian: residivis (id)
• Italian: recidivo (it) m
• Macedonian: рецидиви́ст m (recidivíst), рецидиви́стка f (recidivístka)
• Manx: cooyl-skyrraghtagh m, aahuittymagh m
• Polish: recydywista (pl) m, recydywistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: reincidente m or f, recidivista m or f
• Russian: рецидиви́ст (ru) m (recidivíst), рецидиви́стка (ru) m du (recidivístka) (of crime only)
• Spanish: reincidente (es) m or f

Adjective

recidivist (comparative more recidivist, superlative most recidivist)

1. Tending to fall back into prior habits, especially criminal habits.

   Synonyms: recidive, recidivous

   • 1897 August, Enrico Ferri, “The Delinquent in Art and in Literature”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume LXXX, number CCCCLXXVIII, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 237, column 1:

     To return to Macbeth, I should like to note another psychological intuition of [William] Shakespeare’s, which is that women commit fewer crimes than men; but when they commit them they are more cruel and more obstinately recidivist than men. Lady Macbeth, for example, is more inhumanly ferocious than her husband.

   • 1971, J. George Strachan, “Legal and Law Enforcement”, in Practical Alcoholism Programming: An Honorable Approach to Man’s Alcoholism Problem, Vancouver, B.C.: Mitchell Press Limited, →OCLC, part I (Programming Defined), chapter 3 (An Overall Approach to Programming), page 74:

     Court programs, a comparatively recent innovation in the rehabilitation of drunkenness offenders, originally stemmed from the interest of individual judges and magistrates concerned about the treadmill of waste among recidivist alcoholics.

   • 2006 August 5, Ralph S. Welsh, “Rod is the spoiler”, in Science News‎^[1], volume 170, number 6, Washington, D.C.: Society for Science, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 February 2025, “Letters” section:

     Although there is no single factor underlying aggressive behavior in children, my own 30-plus years looking into the relationship between excessive parental discipline and delinquency has convinced me that the violent, recidivist, male juvenile delinquent who was not raised on the belt, board, cord, or fist is nonexistent.

Danish

Etymology

From French récidiviste. By surface analysis, recidiv +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʁɛsidiˈvisd]

Noun

recidivist c (singular definite recidivisten, plural indefinite recidivister)

1. recidivist

Declension

Declension of recidivist

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	recidivist	recidivisten	recidivister	recidivisterne
genitive	recidivists	recidivistens	recidivisters	recidivisternes

Related terms

• recidiv
• recidivere

References

• “recidivist” in Den Danske Ordbog

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French récidiviste.

Noun

recidivist m (plural recidiviști)

1. recidivist

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	recidivist	recidivistul		recidiviști	recidiviștii
genitive-dative	recidivist	recidivistului		recidiviști	recidiviștilor
vocative	recidivistule			recidiviștilor