Crossword clues for recidivist
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Recidivist \Re*cid"i*vist\ (r[-e]*s[i^]d"[i^]*v[i^]st), n. One who is recidivous or is characterized by recidivism; an incorrigible criminal. -- Re*cid`i*vis"tic (r[-e]*s[i^]d`[i^]*v[i^]s"t[i^]k), a.
The criminal by passion never becomes a recidivist, it
is the social, not the antisocial, instincts that are
strong within him, his crime is a solitary event in his
life.
--Havelock
Ellis.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"relapsed criminal," 1863, from French récidiviste, from récidiver "to fall back, relapse," from Medieval Latin recidivare "to relapse into sin," from Latin recidivus "falling back," from recidere "fall back," from re- "back, again" (see re-) + comb. form of cadere "to fall" (see case (n.)). Recidivation in the spiritual sense is attested from early 15c., was very common 17c.
Wiktionary
n. One who falls back into prior habits, especially criminal habits; a repeat offender.
WordNet
n. someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior) [syn: repeater, habitual criminal]
someone who lapses into previous undesirable patterns of behavior [syn: backslider, reversionist]
Usage examples of "recidivist".
Even if Saddam intended only to threaten Kuwait, he should have recognized that such a demonstration of recidivist aggression would only ensure that the sanctions were maintained even longer, which is in fact what happened.
Later he would datavise the files into a processor block, running a comparison with the huge catalogue of recidivist names, facial images, and in some cases DNA prints which the ESA had trawled from right across the Confederation.
In this instance, however, the precipitating incident was the horrendous damage wrought by a recidivist splinter faction of Sinn Fein, which had detonated a shrapnel bomb in the middle of Harrods during one of its busiest hours, wounding hundreds.
Since then, her only police consultation project had been a long-term study of recidivist burglars with the Swedish Police.
Weir, in THE MENACE OF THE POLICE, cites the case of Jim Flaherty, a criminal by passion, who, instead of being saved by society, is turned into a drunkard and a recidivist, with a ruined and poverty-stricken family as the result.
The people here are probably recidivist Alorns of the most primitive kind.
Mercer and I had met before, a recidivist, a sexual predator who repeated his acts with the same language and sexual interests he had used in the past.
Now the city was famed for recidivist Communism and thuggish politics, for the Semtex explosives manufactured on its outskirts, for dispirited pottery and rudimentary wine.
Initially, the claim of the recidivists was that they wanted to loosen the containment of Iraq to aid the suffering Iraqi people--a self-evidently noble goal.
All American and the jury will just love us for taking armed robbers and dope dealers and fucking third-time recidivists off the streets.
After the merciless young Turk had had six or seven of them severely flogged and two recidivists hanged on the main yardarm of Revenge, the others seemed to have gotten the message and behaved themselves for the remainder of the voyage.
Even if Saddam intended only to threaten Kuwait, he should have recognized that such a demonstration of recidivist aggression would only ensure that the sanctions were maintained even longer, which is in fact what happened.
This Joshua Calvert who chartered us, Tranquillity says he’s a recidivist of the worst kind.
He knows that if he retracts yet again he will be condemned as a recidivist and perjurer.