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

Dobson replied: "I can't recall anything specific that was said. I only remember the atmosphere and panicked, urgent. Feeling tense and confusing."

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

"I do recall a general feeling that inquiries were being stopped too soon and that there was no appetite... to pursue all lines of inquiry or for anyone to be referred for prosecution."

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Nearing 92, I recall the saying: “Too soon old, too late smart.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

South Korea said Thursday it will recall its ambassador to Ukraine in response to a deepening diplomatic row over the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

And although Duane and Handsome met Major Puff back in the autumn, it was a brief meeting and, as you may recall, not altogether friendly.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

Soon after Johnson started, she and Stansbury developed an almost siblinglike partnership built on collaboration, mutual trust and direct communication, he recalls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Felipe recalls that until very recently, "there was a sense of community" among young people.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

"I remember first looking at this and thinking, stars don't make triangular waveforms like this," he recalls.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

“Everything I thought I wanted to say about war in ‘Devil’s Backbone’ seemed obsolete, because we had gone through 9/11 and the world had changed,” Del Toro recalls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

She recalls how Phineas was extremely fond of his little nephews and nieces.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

He recalled how an avalanche of slurry swept through the school just minutes after lessons began.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The press secretary recalled the perception in 2016 was that China would soon overtake the United States.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

“I couldn’t quite hear what was happening. I couldn’t quite decipher what I was seeing. I was like, is this part of it or is this something else?” she recalled.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

The actor froze her eggs at age 37 and became pregnant with her twins a decade later, she recalled to Women’s Health in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

Besides, seeing her face as she recalled it told him everything he needed to know.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

“Great,” Hibbs told me, recalling his reaction at the time.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

It’s a very Spader-y performance, arch, ironic, low-key, recalling his scenes with William Shatner in “Boston Legal.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

And many consumers, when recalling what they believe they paid for a product a year ago, think they paid less than they actually did, said Michael Weber, an economist at Purdue University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

However, in a "shock to everyone", she began to talk on Tuesday, while recalling only limited details about the execution attempt.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Instead, I stood there recalling the very first time we’d come as a family, the new neighbors, to the DiAngelos for dinner.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

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Related Words

• call up
• cite
• evoke
• remind
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