reversionist

9.9

A person who goes back to old bad habits

noun
/rɪˈvɜrʒənɪst/

: reversionista

After years of therapy, John unfortunately became a reversionist by going back to his old, negative habits.

Examples

Many see her as a reversionist because she keeps repeating the same mistakes from her past.
Despite his friends' encouragement, he turned into a reversionist, reverting to his previous lifestyle choices.
Cultural borrowing does not necessarily represent dilution, loss, or corruption, as implied in recent Yoruba Reversionist writing seeking to "purify" the tradition of foreign elements (see Mason 1985).

Academic text (1993)

Synonyms

recidivist

vsreversionist

4 9.8

A person who keeps committing crimes after being punished

is broader covering any return to earlier patterns beyond criminal repetition

backslider

vsreversionist

1 8.2

A person who goes back to bad habits after trying to change

returns to earlier patterns more generally not only after improvement

relapser

vsreversionist

1 8.4

A person who returns to unhealthy behavior after getting better

applies to any return to past patterns not only health problems

Antonyms

progressive

278 4.8

Supporting new social changes in politics to make society fairer

Surface Forms

reversionist singular

reversionists plural

Morphology

reversionist = reversion (transparent) = reversion + ist

The word is formed by a standard agentive suffix '-ist' attached to 'reversion', so a learner who knows 'reversion' can infer 'a person who reverts'.

Etymology

Reversionist comes from revert ('to go back') plus the ending -ist ('person who'). So a reversionist is someone who returns to earlier, often unwanted, habits or patterns.