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Oct 23, 2013
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
tumid
primogeniture
recidivism
mien
autochthonous

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with Anu Garg

recidivism

PRONUNCIATION:
(ri-SID-uh-viz-ehm)

MEANING:
noun: Relapsing (into smoking, crime, etc.), especially repeatedly.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin re- (again) + cadere (to fall). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kad- (to fall), which is also the source of cadence, cascade, casualty, cadaver, chance, chute, accident, occident, decay, and casuistry . Earliest documented use: 1884.

USAGE:
"'A person is counted in the recidivism rate if he or she reoffends within two years after being discharged', Ms Panapasa said."
Ioane Burese; Recidivism Rate Drops; The Fiji Times (Suva); Oct 29, 2011.

See more usage examples of recidivism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave. -Billie Holiday, jazz singer and songwriter (1915-1959)

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