RELAPSED Synonyms: 21 Similar and Opposite Words

relapsed

verb

past tense of relapse

as in reverted

to return to a usually worse state or condition After a few good months of keeping their rooms clean, the kids relapsed into their old untidy habits.

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of relapsed Rebecca Boumstein was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 16, then relapsed three years later. — CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026 Around 2016, Moore and her children became estranged for three years when the actress relapsed with substance abuse. — Jessica Sager, PEOPLE, 12 Aug. 2026 In 2025/2026, however, tensions arose when Raphinha relapsed just before the October Clasico lost to Madrid in the Bernabeu. — Tom Sanderson, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Sandberg, who unveiled a statue of his likeness outside Wrigley Field in June 2024, announced in December of that year that his prostate cancer had relapsed and spread to other organs. — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 13 June 2026 After finding out about the affair, her mother, a recovering alcoholic, relapsed and had to be hospitalized. — Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 1 June 2026 Yet the economic health of households relapsed in 2022, when inflation spiked and those federal assistance programs began to expire, shrinking the social safety net at the same time millions of families were moving closer to the edge. — Stephan Bisaha, NPR, 28 May 2026 Philip Sullivan, who runs the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling’s helpline, said many under-21 prediction site users who reached out for help had relapsed from addictions to other betting platforms. — Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 28 May 2026 Brown’s parole officer first notified police that the defendant had relapsed on crack cocaine and was expressing suicidal ideation on the morning of the shooting, prosecutors said. — Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald, 14 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for relapsed

Verb

If performance reverted as soon as the executive left, the transformation was never complete.

— Rob Versaw, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026
Just after Sky announced its greenlight earlier this year, Banijay and Sony entered a rights dispute revolving around Banijay believing the TV and film rights had reverted back to them since The Girl in the Spider’s Web movie aired.

— Max Goldbart, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of reverted

Verb

On August 1, 2025, the day after the lease lapsed, Cathy and Salvatore sued for possession of their home in Manhattan housing court.

— Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026
Assault weapon popularity Opponents of these restrictions argue that assault weapons have become the nation’s highest-selling guns, with sales increasing after the federal assault weapons ban lapsed in 2004.

— Robert Spitzer, The Conversation, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of lapsed

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relapse

relapsed

relapser

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“Relapsed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/relapsed. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of relapsed

verb

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