recidivistn.adj.
/rᵻˈsɪdᵻvɪst/, U.S. /rəˈsɪdəvəst/, /riˈsɪdəvəst/ A. n.
A person who relapses; esp. a person who habitually relapses into crime, a reoffender. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > criminality > criminal person > [noun] > relapsing
recidive1853
recidivist1867
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a criminal or law-breaker > habitual criminal
old offender1817
hard case1842
recidive1853
recidivist1867
repeater1873
rounder1891
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > [noun] > moral fall or lapse > moral relapse > one who
quadrulapse1595
recidive1853
recidivist1867
1867 E. C. Wines & T. W. Dwight Rep. Prisons & Reformatories of U.S. & Canada i. 77 Some changes in the criminal laws..as to what should constitute a habitual or inveterate offender—a ‘recidivist’ in technical phrase.
1880 London Med. Rec. May 172 Of the 82 males, 61 were cases of relapse; of the 28 women, 10 were recidivists.
1896 Life A. J. Gordon 302 The human heart is, in his opinion, an incorrigible recidivist.
1931 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Jan. 10/2 This creates a body of recidivists who are being constantly released and as constantly returned.
1961 H. Kalven & H. Zeisel in J. Huxley Humanist Frame 340 Murderers hardly ever become recidivists, and pickpockets almost always do.
1981 W. Ebersohn Divide Night ii. 26 Old recidivists who felt at home only in jail and would be back again and again.
2004 Columbia Law Rev. 104 438 A recidivist could be imprisoned for fifty years to life for stealing nine videotapes worth a total of $153.54.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
That is a recidivist; tending to relapse habitually into crime, reoffending. Also: of or relating to recidivists or recidivism.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > [adjective] > lapsing or lapsed > relapsing or relapsed
relapsed1499
relapsing1594
recidivist1883
recidivistic1890
1883 Contemp. Rev. July 113 The Recidivist (Habitual Criminals) Bill.
1897 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 237 Women commit fewer crimes than men; but when they commit them they are more cruel and more obstinately recidivist than men.
1931 J. S. Huxley What dare I Think? iii. 88 Sterilization has been suggested, but this seems disproportionate save in recidivist cases of philoprogenitiveness which seem otherwise incurable.
1962 Lancet 15 Dec. 1278/1 My work as a probation officer among recidivist alcoholics in Pentonville Prison.
1994 N. T. Croally Euripidean Polemic (1999) iv. 229 The recidivist tendencies to intrafamilial murder.
2006 Sci. News 170 95/3 The violent, recidivist, male juvenile delinquent who was not raised on the belt, board, cord, or fist is nonexistent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1867