recursive
adjective
re·cur·sive
ri-ˈkər-siv 
1
: of, relating to, or involving recursion
a recursive function in a computer program
2
: of, relating to, or constituting a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely
a recursive rule in a grammar
recursively
adverb
recursiveness
noun
Examples of recursive in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Due to the randomization element, recursive DNS servers will never have a cached response and will need to forward the query to the victim’s authoritative DNS server.
—
Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 July 2023
Over the past decade or so, Mastercard has developed more than a dozen techniques around machine learning and today, uses a recursive neural network that relies on generative techniques.
—John Kell, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2024
Nature, the human form, the mysteries of rites and myth — all of it has featured prominently in the work of Jonas, who has, in the past 50 or so years, evolved, gone (briefly) underappreciated and resurged, all the while innovating, even as her recursive body of work kept referring back to itself.
—Susan Dominus Emiliano Granado, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024
Over the course of a summer, Jackson spends untold hours with Sharpton, and unspools those hours in a recursive series of vignettes, each one taking the measure of the man in a new and surprising way.
—Longreads, 23 Feb. 2024
For one thing, the technique uses a recursive structure that breaks the task down into smaller chunks.
—Madison Goldberg, WIRED, 11 Feb. 2024
Such recursive sequences can exhibit a wide range of behaviors, some wonderfully counterintuitive.
—Alex Stone, Quanta Magazine, 16 Nov. 2023
Once again, this recursive grouping guaranteed the existence of a unique infinite hierarchy of substitutions that forced all unreflected (single-handed) tilings to be nonperiodic.
—Craig S. Kaplan, Scientific American, 14 Dec. 2023
People in New Haven’s poor neighborhoods were not getting killed every day, but the losses were frequent enough, and so intensely upsetting, that a constant level of fear blended with recursive grief.
—Nicholas Dawidoff, The New Yorker, 18 Nov. 2023
Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 July 2023
Over the past decade or so, Mastercard has developed more than a dozen techniques around machine learning and today, uses a recursive neural network that relies on generative techniques.
—John Kell, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2024
Nature, the human form, the mysteries of rites and myth — all of it has featured prominently in the work of Jonas, who has, in the past 50 or so years, evolved, gone (briefly) underappreciated and resurged, all the while innovating, even as her recursive body of work kept referring back to itself.
—Susan Dominus Emiliano Granado, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024
Over the course of a summer, Jackson spends untold hours with Sharpton, and unspools those hours in a recursive series of vignettes, each one taking the measure of the man in a new and surprising way.
—Longreads, 23 Feb. 2024
For one thing, the technique uses a recursive structure that breaks the task down into smaller chunks.
—Madison Goldberg, WIRED, 11 Feb. 2024
Such recursive sequences can exhibit a wide range of behaviors, some wonderfully counterintuitive.
—Alex Stone, Quanta Magazine, 16 Nov. 2023
Once again, this recursive grouping guaranteed the existence of a unique infinite hierarchy of substitutions that forced all unreflected (single-handed) tilings to be nonperiodic.
—Craig S. Kaplan, Scientific American, 14 Dec. 2023
People in New Haven’s poor neighborhoods were not getting killed every day, but the losses were frequent enough, and so intensely upsetting, that a constant level of fear blended with recursive grief.
—Nicholas Dawidoff, The New Yorker, 18 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'recursive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near recursive
Cite this Entry
“Recursive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recursive. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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