Word Direct Answers

What does "relapse" mean?

Relapse: To slide or turn back into a former state or practice; to fall back from some condition attained; -- generally in a bad sense, as from a state of convalescence or amended condition; as, to relaps into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism; -- sometimes in a good sense; as, to relapse into slumber after being disturbed. That task performed, [preachers] relapse into themselves. Cowper.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Theol.) To fall from Christian faith into paganism, heresy, or unbelief; to backslide. They enter into the justified state, and so continue all along, unless they relapse. Waterland.
  2. 3.A sliding or falling back, especially into a former bad state, either of body or morals; backsliding; the state of having fallen back. Alas! from what high hope to what relapse Unlooked for are we fallen! Milton.
  3. 4.One who has relapsed, or fallen back, into error; a backlider; specifically, one who, after recanting error, returns to it again. [Obs.]

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