recall

Verb

recall (third-person singular simple present recalls, present participle recalling, simple past and past participle recalled)

1. (transitive) To withdraw, retract (one's words etc.); to revoke (an order).

   Synonyms:

   withcall, abjure, backpedal, disavow, disown, eat one's words, recant, retract, revoke, swallow

2. (transitive) To call back, bring back, or summon (someone) to a specific place, station, etc.
   • He was recalled to service after his retirement.
   • She was recalled to London for the trial.
3. (US, transitive) To remove an elected official through a petition and direct vote.
   • That stop-start-stop has created a groundswell of anger toward Mr. Newsom, a Democrat in the third year of his first term, that is increasingly fueling a movement to recall him from office in one of the bluest of blue states.2021 February 19, Nellie Bowles, “Hurt by Lockdowns, California’s Small Businesses Push to Recall Governor”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
4. (transitive) To bring back (someone) to or from a particular mental or physical state, activity etc.
5. (intransitive, transitive) To call back (a situation, event, etc.) to one's mind; to remember; to recollect.
   • Nevertheless, there were many passengers on the recent special trains to whom the immaculate little 80-year-old "Terrier," No. 32636, formerly Fenchurch, and its two L.B.S.C.R. coaches, recalled nostalgic memories of the old days on the line, when the trains were always spick and span; and days...1952 December, R. C. Riley, “By Rail to Kemp Town”, in Railway Magazine, page 836
   • So many people have come and gone
     Their faces fade as the years go by
     Yet I still recall as I wander on
     As clear as the sun in the summer sky1976 August 25, Tom Scholz, “More Than a Feeling”, in Boston, performed by Boston
6. (transitive) To hearken back to, evoke; to be reminiscent of.
   • "The twinkling of the dancers' feet" comes to us in the Odyssey as a memory from that palace of Alkinoos, whose wonders recall to us so much that we have found in Crete.1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 6
   • The police had brought two civilians with them, including the 19-year-old son of one officer who helped to carry out the beer which was seized as evidence. Both were registered as ride alongs that night and their presence did not violate any laws, but Bouza saw this as another instance in which the...1983 August 20, Ruth Borenstein, “Harassment, Bad Judgment Cited in Twin Cities Bust”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 6, page 6
7. (intransitive, transitive) To call again; to call another time.
8. (transitive) To request or order the return of (a faulty product).
   • On Feb. 26, the FDA posted a voluntary recall from Brassica Pharma, which is recalling several eye ointments with expiration dates ranging from February 2024 to September 2025.2024 February 28, Ramishah Maruf, “Popular eye ointments may not be sterile, recall warns”, in CNN

Noun

UK/ˈɹiːkɔːl/US/ˈɹiˌkɔl/

recall (countable and uncountable, plural recalls)

1. Request of the return of a faulty product.
   • recall campaign
   • The recall said that no injuries related to the potentially unsterile facility have been reported.2024 February 28, Ramishah Maruf, “Popular eye ointments may not be sterile, recall warns”, in CNN
2. (US) The right or procedure by which a public official may be removed from office before the end of their term of office, by a vote of the people to be taken on the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters.
   • recall petition
   • representative recall
3. (US) The right or procedure by which the decision of a court may be directly reversed or annulled by popular vote, as was advocated, in 1912, in the platform of the Progressive Party for certain cases involving the police power of the state.
4. Memory; the ability to remember.
   • One little-known incident in No. 49's life is worth recall.1959 June, A. G. Dunbar, “The "Cardeans" of the Caledonian”, in Trains Illustrated, page 310
5. (information retrieval, machine learning) The fraction of (all) relevant material that is returned by a search.
   • precision and recall

   Synonyms:

   sensitivity