habitual criminal vs recidivist

habitual criminal and recidivist both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
habitual criminal	Yes	No	No	No
recidivist	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, habitual criminal and recidivist are synonyms defined as:

habitual criminal and recidivist: someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior)

Other synonyms of habitual criminal include repeater.

habitual criminal (noun)	recidivist (noun)
someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior)	someone who lapses into previous undesirable patterns of behavior
	someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior)