Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To return to health and strength after illness; recuperate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To grow better after sickness; make progress toward the recovery of health.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To recover health and strength gradually, after sickness or weakness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To recover health and strength gradually after sickness or weakness

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get over an illness or shock

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Middle English convalesshe, from Latin convalēscere : com-, intensive pref.; see com– + valēscere, to grow strong, inchoative of valēre, to be strong; see wal- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin convalscere; con- + valescere, to grow strong, valere to be strong.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word convalesce.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.