Recurring vs. Reoccuring – How to Use Each Correctly

/ / Uncategorized

What’s the Difference Between Recurring and Reoccuring?

Recurring and reoccuring, or the base forms recur and reoccur, are very similar in pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. However, there is an important distinction.

Recur is a verb that means to happen repeatedly or to happen again after an interval of time. The gerund form and the progressive form of the verb is recurring. It can also be a participial adjective.

• The boy has a recurring dream in which he is chased by a monster.

Reoccur is a verb that means to happen again at least once. It is important to note that unlike recur, it does not have to happen repeatedly. .

• I already fixed my engine once this year. This problem had better not reoccur!

Let’s look at some of the ways to use, and not use, these words in English.

Using Recurring in a Sentence

When to use recurring: Recurring is the gerund or progressive form of the verb recur, or the participial adjective. It means happening regularly.

For example:

• Your son’s behavior problems are not a one-time issue. Rather, they are a recurring issue. In fact, they happen almost daily.
• This house has recurring problems with plumbing. One pipe or another breaks most months of the year.

Common collocations with recur or recurring include dream, nightmare, problem, theme, character, injury, and motif. As you can see from the preceding words, recurring is especially common in the context of dreams, medical issues, TV characters, and literature.

Recurring is more common than the base form recur.

Using Reoccuring in a Sentence

When to use reoccuring: Reoccuring is the gerund or progressive form of the verb reoccur. It means to happen again and comes directly from the prefix re, meaning again, and occur, meaning happen. Unlike recur, something can reoccur a single time. Although it is possible for something to reoccur many times and at regular intervals, reoccur does not have that connotation, whereas recur does.

For example:

• This surgery should have stopped this medical problem from ever reocurring, but let your doctor know if you feel any pain in the area again.
• Most people get the chicken pox only once, usually as a child. However, for a few unfortunate people, this illness can reoccur.

Reoccur is highly infrequent when compared to recur. In fact, some word processors will flag reoccur as an incorrect spelling. However, despite the fact that some word processors do not recognize this word, it is a legitimate spelling of a real word. It simply has a different connotation than recurring.

Remembering Recurring vs. Reoccuring

You can use the spelling of each word to remember the definition of each.

For reoccur, just use the prefix and the root to remember that it literally means to occur again. Neither the prefix nor the root give any implication that it must happen regularly, or even more than once again.

For recur, it relates to the Latin words recede and current. Think of the ocean’s tide, in which the water recedes and then comes back, and the current pulls inward and then pushes outward. Just like the tide is regular, something recurring is also happening frequently.

Outside Examples

• One of Houston’s worst recurring flood problems may have a relatively simple solution. –Houston Chronicle
• Perry, 47, is known for his recurring role as Madea in such films as “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “Madea’s Witness Protection” and “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Neighbors From Hell.” –LA Times
• “Most of those, however, are on power plants, smokestacks and tall buildings. They’re mostly in urban cities. There are very few, like, on the Wisconsin and the Mississippi but that’s slowly reocurring,” Erdman said. –Wisconsin Public Radio
• Rosenberger says the funding isn’t reocurring, and there is a dollar-for-dollar match with the private sector. –WKSU

Quiz: Recurring vs. Reoccuring

Instructions: Fill in the blank with the best word, either recurring or reoccuring, in the correct form.

1. The woman started having this __________ nightmare last year, and since then she has it about once a week.
2. Johnny Dogood isn’t a main character on the TV show, but he does appear regularly as a ___________________ character.
3. Oh no! I thought I had recovered from this cold, but now it seems like it is __________________ again!

See answers below.

Article Summary

Should I use recurring or reoccuring? Although these words are similar, one is much more common than the other, and there is an important distinction between the two.

• Recurring means happening repeatedly and is incredibly more common than
• Reoccuring is so uncommon that some word processors don’t even recognize it as a word. However, it is a word that means occuring again, although not necessarily repeatedly or regularly.

Remember this difference when choosing which of the words to use.

Answers

1. recurring
2. recurring
3. reoccuring