📖 R — The English dictionary · page 15

recourse — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) Recourse is a way of getting help or a solution when you are in trouble.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To have recourse to something means to use it because you need to, often when other ways have failed.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (law, formal) Recourse is the right to ask someone to pay you back or put a wrong right.↗ Example: Answer the questions without recourse to a calculator.↗ · When the shop would not refund the broken toy, Mum's only recourse was to complain to the manager.↗ · The sailors had no recourse but to swim for the shore.↗ · Teachers should have recourse to punishment only when talking fails.↗ · If the company cheats you, you have recourse to the law.↗ · Without any recourse to the map, she found the way home.↗ · Our last recourse was to ring Grandad for a lift.↗ · But Jokwa had recourse to magic.↗

recover — Everyday, meaning 1: To recover means to get well again after an illness or injury.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To recover means to get back something that was lost or stolen.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To recover from a shock or bad event means to feel normal again.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To recover can mean to get back into a good position, as in a game.↗ Example: Grandpa is recovering from his operation.↗ · The police recovered the stolen bike.↗ · It took me a week to recover from the flu.↗ · The team recovered and won the match.↗ · She quickly recovered from the shock.↗ · Drink plenty of water to help you recover.↗ · I am afraid that he will never recover.”↗ · Three times did Joash smite him, and recovered the cities of Israel.↗ (Prophets 2KI.13.25, JPS 1917)↗ · Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?↗ (Prophets JER.8.22, JPS 1917)↗ · Then the Lord awaked as one asleep, like a mighty man recovering from wine.↗ (Writings PSA.78.65, JPS 1917)↗

recoverable — Everyday, meaning 1: Able to be got back after being lost, deleted or stolen.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of a person or an illness) Able to get better.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (money) Able to be paid back or claimed back.↗ Example: Don't panic, the deleted homework is recoverable from the bin folder.↗ · The doctor said the damage to his knee was recoverable.↗ · Only half of the lost money was recoverable.↗ · Is the data on this broken phone recoverable?↗ · The ship sank so deep that it was not recoverable.↗ · The costs of the trip are recoverable if it is cancelled.↗ · Most mistakes in a draft are easily recoverable.↗

recovery — Everyday, meaning 1: Recovery is getting better after being ill, hurt or upset.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Recovery is getting back something that was lost or stolen.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A recovery is when something, like a business or a team, gets back to a good state after a bad time.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (formal) Recovery can mean getting useful material back from waste, as in recycling.↗ Example: Grandad made a full recovery after his operation.↗ · We wish you a speedy recovery!↗ · The team made a great recovery to win 3–2.↗ · The police announced the recovery of the stolen paintings.↗ · In first aid, we learned the recovery position.↗ · A recovery truck towed our broken car away.↗ · The town's recovery after the flood took months.↗ · "Your royal highness must be on the high road to recovery from your illness," said he.↗

recreate — Everyday, meaning 1: To make something again so that it is like it was before.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To copy or act out a past event, scene or picture.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (less common, pronounced «REK-ree-ate») To relax and enjoy yourself; this sense is usually spelt «re-create» the other way round, so see notes.↗ Example: We recreated a Roman kitchen in the classroom.↗ · Can you recreate the drawing from memory?↗ · Scientists recreated the experiment and got the same result.↗ · The film recreates life in a Victorian school.↗ · I lost my password list and had to recreate it.↗ · Let's recreate the photo we took when we were little.↗ · The museum recreated a dinosaur skeleton from bones and casts.↗

recreation — Everyday, meaning 1: Things people do for fun and relaxation in their free time, like sport, games and hobbies.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (pronounced re-create-ion, often with a hyphen: re-creation) Making something again, or a copy of something old: a re-creation of a Viking village.↗ Example: We play football at the recreation ground.↗ · Swimming is my favourite recreation.↗ · The new recreation centre has a climbing wall.↗ · Kids need time for recreation after school.↗ · (UK informal) Meet us at the rec after lunch.↗ · If she spends 2 hours a day on recreation, how many hours is that in a week?↗ · The museum built a re-creation of a castle kitchen.↗

recreational — Everyday, meaning 1: Done for fun, relaxing and enjoyment in your free time, not for work: recreational sport.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Used for fun and play: a recreational area, a recreational vehicle (RV).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (of drugs) Taken for pleasure, not as medicine — still often illegal and harmful.↗ Example: Swimming is my favourite recreational activity.↗ · The town built a new recreational ground.↗ · They travelled in a recreational vehicle.↗ · Recreational fishing is allowed on the lake.↗ · Many adults play recreational football at weekends.↗ · Recreational drugs can seriously harm your health.↗

recruit — Everyday, meaning 1: verb To find and get new people to join a group, team, army or company.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: noun A new member, especially of the army or police.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: verb (informal) To get someone to help you: «I recruited my sister to help clean.».↗ Example: The football club is recruiting new players.↗ · The army recruits trained hard at camp.↗ · I recruited my friends to help with the bake sale.↗ · The school wants to recruit more volunteers.↗ · She was recruited as a lifeguard for the summer.↗ · The new recruit was nervous on his first day.↗ · It was the colonel himself who came with the patrol, and he was not a little surprised when he found the recruit safe and sound.↗

rectangle — Everyday, meaning 1: A rectangle is a flat shape with four straight sides and four square corners (right angles).↗ Its opposite sides are equal and parallel.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A square is a special rectangle with all four sides equal.↗ Example: A rectangle is 8 cm long and 5 cm wide.↗ · Find the perimeter of the rectangle.↗ · The area of the rectangle is 24 square meters.↗ · A rectangle has a length of 10 and a width of 4.↗ · A door is shaped like a rectangle.↗ · Every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square.↗ · A rectangle has four right angles.↗ · Fold the rectangle along its line of symmetry.↗ · Draw a rectangle on squared paper and count the squares inside.↗

rectangular — Everyday, meaning 1: Rectangular means shaped like a rectangle, with four straight sides and square corners.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A rectangular box or room (a cuboid, or rectangular prism) has rectangle faces.↗ Example: A rectangular garden is 12 m long and 7 m wide.↗ · How much fence goes around the rectangular field?↗ · A rectangular box is 4 by 3 by 2 inches.↗ · The rectangular pool has an area of 50 square meters.↗ · Our classroom has rectangular tables.↗ · A brick is a rectangular block.↗ · A shoebox is a rectangular prism.↗ · The envelope is rectangular, not square.↗

rectified — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) Put right; corrected.↗ e.g. The mistake was rectified.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) Changed from alternating current into direct current in electricity (advanced).↗ Example: The spelling mistake was rectified before printing.↗ · Once the error was rectified, the answer was 64.↗ · The leak in the roof has been rectified.↗ · She rectified her mistake by saying sorry.↗ · The shop rectified the wrong price at once.↗ · The fault in the computer was quickly rectified.↗

rectilinear — Everyday, meaning 1: Made of straight lines.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Moving in a straight line.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (maths) A rectilinear shape has only straight sides, often with right angles, like an L-shape or a rectangle.↗ Example: Find the perimeter of the rectilinear shape.↗ · An L-shape is a rectilinear shape.↗ · Split the rectilinear shape into two rectangles.↗ · A circle is not rectilinear because it is curved.↗ · The car moved in rectilinear motion along the straight road.↗ · The new library has a rectilinear design with flat walls and square corners.↗ · Draw a rectilinear shape with six sides.↗

rector — Everyday, meaning 1: (church) A rector is a priest in charge of a parish in the Church of England, the Episcopal Church or the Catholic Church.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (school) In some schools, colleges and universities, especially in Scotland and some other countries, the rector is the head.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The house a rector lives in is the rectory.↗ Example: The rector welcomed everyone at the church door.↗ · The rector visited Grandma in hospital.↗ · We had the fête in the rectory garden.↗ · The new rector is a woman who loves gardening.↗ · In Scotland, the rector of the school gave out the prizes.↗ · The rector read the banns for the wedding.↗

recumbent — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) Lying down, especially on your back or leaning back.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A recumbent bicycle or bike is one you ride sitting back in a low seat with your legs in front.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun) A short name for a recumbent bicycle.↗ Example: The cat lay recumbent in the sun.↗ · My grandad uses a recumbent exercise bike at the gym.↗ · The statue shows a recumbent knight on top of his tomb.↗ · She rides a recumbent to school and it looks very low.↗ · The patient stayed in a recumbent position after the operation.↗ · A recumbent bike is easier on your back.↗ · The lions were recumbent under the tree.↗ · Hypnus is sometimes depicted standing erect with closed eyes; at others he is in a recumbent position beside his brother Thanatos, and usually bears a poppy-stalk in his hand.↗

recuperation — Everyday, meaning 1: Getting better and stronger after an illness, injury or tiring time.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Getting back something lost, such as energy or money (less common).↗ Example: After the operation she needed six weeks of recuperation.↗ · Sleep helps the body's recuperation.↗ · The footballer went home for recuperation.↗ · Grandma's recuperation was slow but steady.↗ · A week at the seaside was perfect for recuperation.↗ · Muscles need recuperation after hard exercise.↗ · The soldiers were sent away for rest and recuperation.↗

recur — Everyday, meaning 1: To recur means to happen again, often more than once.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (maths) A recurring decimal is a decimal in which a digit or group of digits repeats for ever, like 0.333….↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To recur means to come back into your mind again, like a thought or a dream.↗ Example: One third written as a decimal is 0.3 recurring.↗ · If the pain recurs, go back to the doctor.↗ · The same mistake recurred in every one of his sums.↗ · She had a recurring dream about flying over the sea.↗ · Floods recur in that valley almost every spring.↗ · Two thirds is 0.6 recurring, which we round to 0.67.↗ · The idea kept recurring to him all through the lesson.↗ · The villain is a recurring character in the cartoon.↗ · Parallels.--The well-known story of the Pied Piper of Hameln (Hamelin), immortalised by Browning, will at once recur to every reader's mind.↗

recurrence — Everyday, meaning 1: A recurrence is when something happens again, especially something bad like an illness or a problem.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (maths, formal) A recurrence is a rule where each number in a pattern is found from the ones before it.↗ Example: The school changed the lock to prevent a recurrence of the break-in.↗ · The doctor watched for any recurrence of the fever.↗ · There was a recurrence of flooding after the heavy rain.↗ · We hope there will be no recurrence of this bad behaviour.↗ · The Fibonacci numbers come from a recurrence: add the two numbers before.↗ · The headteacher wrote that she wanted no recurrence of the fight.↗ · The recurrence of the noise made the dog bark.↗

recurrent — Everyday, meaning 1: Happening again and again, many times: a recurrent dream.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (maths, advanced) A recurring decimal repeats forever: 1 ÷ 3 = 0.333…↗ (the usual word is «recurring»).↗ Example: He has a recurrent dream about flying.↗ · Flooding is a recurrent problem in this town.↗ · Friendship is a recurrent theme in her books.↗ · The doctor asked about her recurrent coughs.↗ · 2 ÷ 3 gives a recurring decimal, 0.666….↗ · Recurrent rain ruined our holiday.↗

recurring — Everyday, meaning 1: Happening again and again.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (maths, UK) A decimal where a digit or group of digits repeats forever, like 0.333….↗ Example: One third as a decimal is 0.3 recurring.↗ · I have a recurring dream about flying.↗ · Leaks are a recurring problem in our old house.↗ · The recurring character appears in every book of the series.↗ · 1 ÷ 11 gives 0.09 recurring.↗ · Headaches can be a recurring problem for some people.↗ · Life in the Golden Age was one unceasing round of ever-recurring pleasures unmarred by sorrow or care.↗

recyclable — Everyday, meaning 1: Recyclable means able to be recycled — collected and made into new things instead of being thrown away.↗ Example: Glass bottles are recyclable.↗ · Put recyclable things in the blue bin.↗ · Is this yoghurt pot recyclable?↗ · Look for the recycling symbol to see if it's recyclable.↗ · Crisp packets are often not recyclable.↗ · The company switched to recyclable packaging.↗

recycle — Everyday, meaning 1: To recycle something is to collect it after use so it can be broken down and made into something new, like turning old bottles into new ones.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To recycle is also to use something again, for the same or a new purpose, instead of throwing it away.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To recycle an idea or joke is to use it again, often when it is no longer fresh.↗ Example: We recycle our cans and bottles every week.↗ · This notebook is made from recycled paper.↗ · Rinse the yogurt pot before you recycle it.↗ · Glass can be recycled again and again.↗ · Our class recycled old boxes into a castle model.↗ · Batteries must not go in the normal bin; take them to be recycled.↗ · Not all plastic can be recycled.↗ · He recycled the same joke from last year.↗