recanting

recanting is the present participle and gerund of recant.

Meaning of recant

recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)

(ambitransitive) To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
- Convince me that I am wrong, and I will recant.
Synonyms:

abjure, disavow, disown, recall, retract, revoke, take back, unsay, withcall

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

recanting (plural recantings)

The act of one who recants; a retraction.
- Its victim focus and child centeredness, in the program's opinion, accounted for the significant numbers of client disclosures and four offender confessions and very few victim recantings.1989, John T. Pardeck, Child Abuse and Neglect: Theory, Research, and Practice, page 170

plural	recantings

What does recanting mean?: Recanting means the act of one who recants; a retraction.
What is recanting the present participle and gerund of?: Recanting is the present participle and gerund of recant.
What part of speech is recanting?: Recanting is a noun.
What is the plural of recanting?: The plural of recanting is recantings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: recanting (page history and authors); recant (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “recanting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recanting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.