Recur vs. reoccur

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Grammarist

Something that recurs happens repeatedly, perhaps at regular intervals. Something that reoccurs happens again, but not necessarily repeatedly or at regular intervals. For example, the sunrise recurs, and an unpredictable event that happens to occur more than once—such as an earthquake or a financial crisis—reoccurs.

Examples

Recur

Fresh off Golden Globe and SAG Award victories, the HBO drama will add this British actor in a recurring role on season two. [TV Fanatic]

Seizures might recur as many as a hundred times a day. [Kilgore News Herald]

Reoccur

In our view, Haiti’s traumatic crises will continue to reoccur unless resulting social, economic, and geographic imbalances are fundamentally changed. [Foreign Policy]

He added that Britain has not completed its regulatory overhaul—designed to ensure such a crisis could not reoccur … [Telegraph]

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