## Meanings
1. To slip back into a bad habit or harmful behaviour after a period of improvement.
2. To become ill again after seeming to recover.
3. A return to a worse condition, illness, or bad habit after improvement.

## Examples
- He stayed sober for a year before he relapsed.
- The patient relapsed a few weeks after leaving the hospital.
- After months of progress, she suffered a sudden relapse.

## Derived Forms
- irrelapsable
- nonrelapse
- nonrelapsed
- nonrelapsing
- prerelapse
- relapsable
- relapser

## Related Forms
- remission

## Etymology
From Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“back”) + labi (“to slip, slide, fall”).

## AI Etymology
Relapse is from Latin relapsus, past participle of relabi (“to slide back, fall back”), from re- (“back”) + labi (“to slip, slide, fall”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern verbal form is built from the named base and affix. In present-day use, it can mean to slip back into a bad habit or harmful behaviour after a period of improvement, or to become ill again after seeming to recover. Related forms include remission. Derived formations include irrelapsable, nonrelapse, nonrelapsed, nonrelapsing, prerelapse.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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