Recursive

Adjective

1. drawing upon itself, referring back.The recursive nature of stories which borrow from each other
2. (mathematics, not comparable) of an expression, each term of which is determined by applying a formula to preceding terms
3. (computing, not comparable) of a program or function that calls itself
4. (computing theory, not comparable, of a function) which can be computed by a theoretical model of a computer, in a finite amount of time
5. (computing theory, not comparable, of a set) whose characteristic function is recursive (4)

Hyponyms

• (of a function) primitive recursive

Hypernyms

• (of a set, whose characteristic function is recursive) recursively enumerable

Related terms

• recursivity
• recurrent
• recurrence
• recursion
• recursive conundrum
• co-recursive

Derived terms

• recursive acronym
• tail recursive
• recursive