recall

American  

[ri-kawl, ri-kawl, ree-kawl, ree-kawl] / rɪˈkɔl, rɪˈkɔl, ˈri kɔl, ˈri kɔl /

verb (used with object)

• recalls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• recalled,
  past participle,  past
• recalling
  present participle

1. 

   to bring back from memory; recollect; remember.

   Can you recall what she said?

   Antonyms:

   forget

2. to call back; summon to return.

   The army recalled many veterans.

3. to bring (one's thoughts, attention, etc.) back to matters previously considered.

   He recalled his mind from pleasant daydreams to the dull task at hand.

4. International Law. to summon back and withdraw the office from (a diplomat).

5. to revoke or withdraw.

   to recall a promise.

   Synonyms:

   annul, repeal, recant, retract, rescind

6. to revive.

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noun

• recalls
  plural

1. an act of recalling.

   Synonyms:

   memory

2. the ability to remember or act of remembering; recollection; remembrance.

   This is the way it has been done for ages beyond recall.

3. Psychology. the act or process of retrieving information previously encoded and stored in memory, without being cued by the targeted information itself.

   Music is often used in education to improve recall of text and factual information.

   In the interview, careful, open questions are essential to encourage and sustain the child's free recall of events.

4. the act or possibility of revoking something.

   Synonyms:

   nullification, recantation, withdrawal, repeal, retraction, revocation

5. the removal or the right of removal of a public official from office by a vote of the people taken upon petition of a specified number of the qualified electors.

6. Also called callback. a summons by a manufacturer or other agency for the return of goods or a product already shipped to market or sold to consumers but discovered to be defective, contaminated, unsafe, or the like.

7. a signal made by a vessel to recall one of its boats.

8. a signal displayed to direct a racing yacht to sail across the starting line again.

recall British  

/ rɪˈkɔːl /

verb

1. (may take a clause as object) to bring back to mind; recollect; remember

2. to order to return; call back permanently or temporarily

   to recall an ambassador

3. to revoke or take back

4. to cause (one's thoughts, attention, etc) to return from a reverie or digression

5. poetic to restore or revive

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noun

1. the act of recalling or state of being recalled

2. revocation or cancellation

3. the ability to remember things; recollection

4. military (esp formerly) a signal to call back troops, etc, usually a bugle call

   to sound the recall

5. the process by which elected officials may be deprived of office by popular vote

recall Idioms  

1. see beyond recall.

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Usage

What is a basic definition of recall? The verb recall means to remember something. Recall is also used as a verb to mean to request a person to return somewhere. It is used as a noun to refer to an order by a company or manufacturer for a product to be returned for some reason, especially a defect. Recall has several other senses as both a verb and a noun. The word recall is used as a synonym of remember and recollect. In this sense, to recall is to retrieve old information from your memory.

• Real-life example: A friend might ask you what you did over the weekend, and you might take a minute to recall all of the fun things you did. When asked to explain what they were doing on a certain date, a defendant in a trial might say that they do not recall.
• Used in a sentence: I am trying to recall the name of an actor, but I can’t even remember the name of the movie that they’re in!

Recall also means to tell a person to return from somewhere. This sense is often used in the context of a person of authority commanding those under them to return to headquarters or their base.

• Real-life example: You are likely to hear this use of recall in reference to politics or the military. A country may decide to recall its ambassador from a country it is having a disagreement with, for example. Similarly, a country may recall troops from the place they had been dispatched to. A recall election is one in which voters decide whether to recall an elected official from office.
• Used in a sentence: After the negotiations fell through, the country decided to recall its diplomat. 

The word recall is used as a noun to mean a manufacturer requesting that products be returned to them because they are defective, unsafe, or for some other reason. In this context, recall can also be used as a verb meaning to issue such a recall.

• Real-life example: Recalls are common practice, especially by car manufacturers when a part is found to be defective. The car company may send you a letter in the mail to tell you your brakes have a chance of failing. Often, the manufacturer will pay to have the defective part replaced.
• Used in a sentence: The toy company issued a recall for the toy cars because they were found to be a choking hazard.

Synonym Usage

See remember.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• recallable
  adjective
• unrecallable
  adjective
• unrecalled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• recalls
  plural

Participles

• recalling
  present
• recalled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• recall
  simple
• recalls
  simple
• have recalled
  perfect
• has recalled
  perfect
• am recalling
  progressive
• are recalling
  progressive
• is recalling
  progressive
• have been recalling
  perfect progressive
• has been recalling
  perfect progressive

Past

• recalled
  simple
• had recalled
  perfect
• was recalling
  progressive
• were recalling
  progressive
• had been recalling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will recall
  simple
• will have recalled
  perfect
• will be recalling
  progressive
• will have been recalling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of recall

First recorded in 1575–85; re- + call

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Explanation

When you recall something, you remember it, like telling your friend, "As I recall, you said you'd buy my lunch the next time we got together." The verb recall means "remember," like an older person who recalls her school days, or "call to mind," like a painter's use of colors and shapes that recall early Pablo Picasso. Recall can also be a noun — you may know someone who has great recall, or memory, of events that everyone else has forgotten. If an automaker issues a recall on your car, this is a request to temporarily "take it back" to fix something. Don't forget about this kind of recall!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recall recalls recalled recalling

Rembert said that in nine years, she could recall one apple being too crunchy to sell: the Jazz, a New Zealand invention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2026

They remember meeting Team GB heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson and recall racing outside of the London Stadium.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

The government has not yet published any figures for the rate of recall of prisoners to jails for breaching their licence conditions.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

Today, Argentina’s church is closely shaped by Francis, who many recall fondly as the former Buenos Aires archbishop, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026

Now that Professor Treebaun had mentioned it, I did vaguely recall my mom mentioning the multiple access points to the staircase Booth used.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

An undated black-and-white photograph of the bank recalls the industrial structures documented by Bernd and Hilla Becher in the 1960s and ’70s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026

“This,” the most famous investigative reporter of our time recalls, “was news to me.”

From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2026

A spokesman recalls Michal Oksinski as unremarkable: average competition results and normal behaviour.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

"We had to plan the entire sequence of experiments in advance," recalls Dr. Marcin Muszyński, the paper's first author, now a postdoctoral researcher at The City College of New York.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

It recalls me intolerably to those final days in Canaan.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

“I haven’t watched you eat in three days,” he recalled her saying.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026

“She was still in the hospital when I was in space,” Kelly recalled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026

"There was sludge and mud everywhere," she recalled.

From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026

Earlier this month, Once Upon a Farm voluntarily recalled its popular Tractor Wheels nutrient bars after receiving complaints about the snack being a choking hazard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026

One worker recalled the panic building among those trapped outside the gate.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

"I'm like, 'Yeah, it's a human being. Stop the boat; let's get all of our lines in," Grant Garrett was quoted as saying, recalling the moment he and Sean Norton spotted him.

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026

"I got a call from the Security Service: 'Congratulations ...' And I was just frozen in shock," Tetiana said, recalling the moment she learnt her son was being freed.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

The Great America branding was a nod to its opening during the nation’s bicentennial, with themed lands recalling periods of American history, including Orleans Place and 1920s-era Hometown Square.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026

“We tried so hard to shield her from everything, so she would see and hear as little as possible,” said Kaminska, a psychologist, recalling the months they spent in the occupied city of Kherson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

This is the piece of his history that haunts him, I think, recalling the beat of grief we’d shared when I’d mentioned my father.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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Related Words

• call up
• cite
• evoke
• remind
• summon
• think of

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