Recidivous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Inclined to fall back into old habits, particularly returning to criminal conduct after being punished or reformed
2. Describing a person or pattern of behavior that repeatedly slips back into wrongdoing after correction
3. Prone to lapsing again into offending or a former bad habit, especially once a penalty or treatment has ended

Etymology: "Recidivous" is an adapted borrowing of Latin "recidivus," meaning "returning" or "recurring." That Latin adjective was built from "recidere," "to fall back," a verb combining "re-" (back) with "cadere" (to fall). So the word's core image is literally falling backward, which the English sense of relapsing into old habits preserves. English also has "recidive," a close relative that came from the same Latin stem, and "recidivous" is best understood as that noun reshaped with the English adjective ending "-ous," as in "famous" or "ponderous." The two forms are doublets, meaning two words that descend from one source by different routes. In practice, the longer word is the one that sounds like an adjective and does the describing work: a recidivous offender is one who falls back into crime.