Recidivist

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  


           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.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  recidivist
       n 1: someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior
            (especially for the same criminal behavior) [syn: {repeater},
             {habitual criminal}]
       2: someone who lapses into previous undesirable patterns of
          behavior [syn: {backslider}, {reversionist}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  109 Moby Thesaurus words for "recidivist":
     Adamic, Sabbath-breaker, apostate, atavistic, atheist, atheistic,
     backslider, backsliding, bad egg, bad lot, black sheep, blasphemer,
     blasphemous, bolter, carnal, collaborationist, collaborator,
     convert, defector, degenerate, deserter, erring, fallen,
     fallen angel, fallen from grace, fifth columnist, fleshly, frail,
     impious, impure, infirm, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, lecher,
     lost lamb, lost sheep, lost soul, miscreant, mugwump,
     of easy virtue, peccable, pervert, pimp, postlapsarian, prodigal,
     prodigal son, profanatory, profane, profligate, proselyte,
     quisling, reactionary, recessive, recidivistic, recidivous,
     recreant, regressive, renegade, renegado, renegate, repeater,
     reprobate, retrograde, retrogressive, retrorse, retroverse,
     returnable, returnee, reversible, reversional, reversionary,
     reversioner, reversionist, revertible, revulsionary, runagate,
     sacrilegious, sacrilegist, scapegrace, schismatic, seceder,
     secessionist, separatist, sorry lot, strikebreaker, tergiversant,
     tergiversator, traitor, trollop, turnabout, turncoat, turntail,
     two-time loser, unangelic, unbeliever, unchaste, unclean,
     undutiful, ungodly, ungood, unrighteous, unsaintly, unvirtuous,
     virtueless, wanton, wayward, weak, whore