Definition

1. Noun:
   • A person who reverts to previous undesirable patterns of behavior: A backslider is someone who returns to old, bad habits or behaviors, especially after a period of improvement or reform. This term is often used in contexts of personal morality, religion, or self-improvement.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

Advanced Usage

• "Chronic backslider": This phrase emphasizes a person who repeatedly and habitually returns to undesirable behavior.
• "To be a backslider in [something]": Used to specify the area of regression.

Variants and Related Words

• Backslide (verb): To relapse into bad habits or error.
• Backsliding (noun): The act or instance of relapsing.

Synonyms

• Recidivist: A person who repeatedly commits crimes; a habitual offender. (More formal, often legal)
• Relapser: A person who falls back into a previous state, especially illness or bad habit.
• Apostate: A person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle. (Stronger, implies a formal abandonment)

Related Phrases

• "Fall off the wagon": An informal idiom meaning to start drinking alcohol again after a period of abstinence. This is a specific type of backsliding.

Related Idioms

• "To backslide into old ways": This is the core idiomatic use of the verb form, perfectly describing the action of a backslider.

Noun

1. someone who lapses into previous undesirable patterns of behavior