recant
/ɹəˈkænt/
recant verb: to withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
Verb (1)
recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)
- To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
- Convince me that I am wrong, and I will recant.
- How soon […] ease would recant / Vows made in pain, as violent and void!1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Verb (2)
recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)
- To give a new cant (slant, angle) to something, in particular railway track on a curve.
- Numerous curves, which previously had given no trouble at 75 and 80 m.p.h., were realigned and recanted to adapt them for 90 m.p.h. and more, [...].1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263
recant meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Thai
recant in Urdu
- الفاظ واپس لینا
recant in Bengali
- বিশেষত আনুষ্ঠানিকভাবে ও প্রকাশ্যে
recant in Malayalam
- disavow, renounce, deny
- പരിത്യജിക്കുക, പരസ്യമായി നിരാകരിക്കുക, മറുത്തുപറയുക, നിഷേധിക്കുക, ഖണ്ഡിക്കുക, തള്ളുക
- change one's mind, be apostate, tergiversate
- മനം മാറുക, അഭിപ്രായം മാറ്റുക, ആദർശം ഉപേക്ഷിക്കുക, തത്ത്വങ്ങളെ കെെവെടിയുക, മതപരിത്യാഗം ചെയ്യുക
- take back, retract, withdraw
- വാക്കു മടക്കിയെടുക്കുക, മടക്കിയെടുക്കുക, മുമ്പുപറഞ്ഞതിനെ ഖണ്ഡിച്ചു പറയുക, നിഷേധിക്കുക, പറഞ്ഞതു തിരിച്ചു പറയുക, പിൻവലിക്കുക
recant in Thai
- to withdraw or repudiate formally and publicly
- กลับคำ glàp-kam, คืนคำ kʉʉn-kam, ถอนคำ tɔ̌ɔn-kam, ถอนคำพูด tɔ̌ɔn-kam-pûut
Synonyms of recant
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of recant
| third-person singular present | recants |
|---|---|
| present participle | recanting |
| past participle | recanted |
| past | recanted |
Origin of recant
First attested in 1535, from Latin recantare (“to sing back, reecho, sing again, repeat in singing, recant, recall, revoke, charm back or away”), from re- (“back”) + canto (“to chant, to sing”), frequentative of cano.
From re- + cant.
Words formed from recant
Words that rhyme with recant
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about recant
- What does recant mean?
- Recant means to withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
- What is recant in Urdu?
- Recant in Urdu is الفاظ واپس لینا. See Recant meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is recant?
- Recant is a verb.
- How do you pronounce recant?
- Recant is pronounced /ɹəˈkænt/.
- What is the past tense of recant?
- The past tense of recant is recanted.
Words near recant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: recant (page history and authors); recant (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); recant (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); recant (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-recant.wav.
Cite this entry: “recant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.