recuse
/ɹɪˈkjuːz/
"recuse" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“recuse” is uncommon English (frequency #50,765 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,765
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | recuse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈkjuːz/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #50,765 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “recuse” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
recuse is uncommon English at frequency #50,765 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ɹɪˈkjuːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
recuse doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English recusen, from Old French recuser (modern French récuser (“to challenge; to impugn; (formal) to make an objection; (law) to recuse”), and from its etymon Latin recūsāre, the present active infinitive of recūsō (“to decline, refuse, r… The correct English form is recuse, spelled R-E-C-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
- 2To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
- 3To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
- 4To refuse (to do something).
- 5To dismiss (an appeal).
- 6Of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare oneself disqualified from trying a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.
Etymology
From Late Middle English recusen, from Old French recuser (modern French récuser (“to challenge; to impugn; (formal) to make an objection; (law) to recuse”), and from its etymon Latin recūsāre, the present active infinitive of recūsō (“to decline, refuse, reject; (law) to object to, protest”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’, denoting opposition or reversal) + causa (“cause, reason; (law) case, claim; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of rouse and possibly ruse. Cognates * Catalan recusar * French récuser * Italian ricusare * Old Occitan recuzar * Portuguese recusar * Spanish recusar
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “recuse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹɪˈkjuːz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.