{
  "id": "recursion.process",
  "term": "recursion",
  "sense": "process",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "domain": "general",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "When a pattern repeats by returning to its previous state and doing again what it did before.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "pattern.regularity",
      "repeats.action",
      "previous.temporal"
    ],
    "interaction": "A pattern refers back to an earlier instance of itself in time, causing a repetition within itself.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "self-reference",
      "infinite nesting"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "oscillation.motion",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "oscillation alternates between states; recursion builds on prior self"
    },
    {
      "id": "cycle.loop",
      "type": "abstracts",
      "note": "recursion is a form of cycle with memory of depth"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "recursion"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-recursion.process"
}