recursion

Noun

Singular recursion

Plural recursions

1. (uncountable) Recursion is the act or process of going back and happening again.
2. (uncountable) (logic, mathematics) Recursion is the use of a function inside itself to generate an infinite number of results.

   The following function exhibits recursion.

   $F(0)=a$

   $F(n+1)=f(F(n))$

3. (uncountable) (linguistics) Recursion is the use of one kind of linguistic unit inside itself.

   An example of recursion is when a clause appears inside a larger clause, as in the following:

   The cat that I saw was black.