repeated

repeated — adjective

1. done or taking place more than once, often as part of a continuing pattern.

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

done or taking place more than once, often as part of a continuing pattern.

Example

The doctor warned Élise about the risks of repeated eye infections.

collocation: repeated + noun (medical issue)

Jisoo made repeated attempts to reach her brother, but his phone was off.

collocation: repeated attempts

Common collocations
  • repeated attempts
  • repeated warnings
  • repeated delays
  • repeated complaints
  • repeated failures
  • repeated requests
  • repeated offenses
  • repeated infections
Synonyms
  • frequent

    Focuses on short intervals between occurrences rather than the return of the same event

  • recurrent

    More formal, often used for medical symptoms, financial patterns, or cycles

  • numerous

    Emphasises the large quantity of events rather than the repeated nature

Antonyms
  • single

    Happening only once

  • one-time

    Happening just a single time, not again

Grammar Patterns

repeated + noun

Usage Note

Used before a noun (attributive position) — not in predicative position with the same meaning. Compare 'a repeated mistake' (adjective, happening many times) with 'the mistake was repeated' (verb in passive voice, meaning someone did it again).

Common Mistakes

The movie was too repeated, so I stopped watching.
The movie was too repetitive, so I stopped watching.
'repeated' is not used after a linking verb to describe something as boringly monotonous; use 'repetitive' for that meaning.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Frequent, recurrent, and numerous all relate to things happening more than once, but with different emphases. Frequent (B1) stresses how closely together events occur in time: 'frequent bus services' means buses come at short intervals. Recurrent (B2–C1) emphasises that the same kind of event returns after a gap, often in a cycle: 'recurrent headaches' come and go repeatedly. Numerous (B1) simply highlights a large count: 'numerous complaints' means many complaints, not necessarily about the same thing. Use repeated when you want to stress that the action or event itself happens over and over — 'repeated attempts' means the same attempt was made many times.

frequent ↗recurrent ↗numerous ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • attempts
  • warnings
  • delays
  • complaints
  • failures
  • requests
  • offenses
  • infections

Phrases

  • on repeated occasions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Repeated comes from the Latin repetere, made from re- ('again') and petere ('to seek, go towards'). It entered English through French répéter in the 1500s, first as a verb meaning 'to say again'. The adjective form — describing something that is done over and over — emerged in the early 1600s.