recant
Americanverb (used with object)
-
recants,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recanted,
past participle, past
-
recanting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
recants,
present (3rd person singular)
-
recanted,
past participle, past
-
recanting
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
recantsimple
-
recantssimple
-
have recantedperfect
-
has recantedperfect
-
am recantingprogressive
-
are recantingprogressive
-
is recantingprogressive
-
have been recantingperfect progressive
-
has been recantingperfect progressive
Past
-
recantedsimple
-
had recantedperfect
-
was recantingprogressive
-
were recantingprogressive
-
had been recantingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recant
1525–35; < Latin recantāre to sing back, sing again, equivalent to re- re- + cantāre, frequentative of canere to sing; cf. chant
Explanation
If you're someone who speaks before you think, you may need to recant, or take back, that overly honest assessment of your friend's new haircut. Recant comes from two Latin roots: the prefix re-, meaning "back," and the verb cantare, meaning "to sing." It has been suggested that recant was first used when someone reversed a charm, curse, or some other type of magical spell that would have been chanted or sung. Regardless of whether this is true or not, we suggest that you refrain from singing when you need to recant — unless you've been casting nasty spells on people.
Vocabulary lists containing recant
100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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Lincoln Inaugural Address (March 1861)
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Just Mercy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Years later, he said he was pressured by the FBI to recant his story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
Later that the day, she appeared to recant the remarks in a state TV interview, warning that they should "not be misused".
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2025
Generally, it’s unusual for a cooperating witness to recant testimony years after a trial.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
She withdrew the allegation later, but Trump's biographer points out that her alimony payments were likely in danger if she did not recant.
From Salon ● May 1, 2023
She’d had to tell him the charges she’d made and tried to recant when she was begging for his assistance.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
“It recants some of the language in their letter, which I never adopted.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2022
He made references to “Frank Pentangeli” - a character in the film “The Godfather Part II” who recants his testimony to Congress about a mobster amid witness intimidation.
From Reuters ● Nov. 7, 2019
Faced with doubting, undermining and hounding, Marie recants her story, but the narrative only gets more complicated from there.
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2019
As soon as the detectives leave, and Dassey is able to speak to his mother alone, he promptly recants, telling her he only confessed because the officers got inside his head.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2018
Sometimes though, for the women, they’re for a nun who recants.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
His guilt and the evidence on which he was convicted have been questioned over the years - namely after witnesses recanted their statements and another inmate later confessed to the murder.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
When war was declared, David recanted his previously strong pro-German views and toed a patriotic line.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Capitalwatch has now recanted the entire report, the publisher told Barron’s, adding that it would issue “no more news updates” about AppLovin.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Three days later, he recanted that confession and spent the rest of his life professing his innocence, claiming that he was made a patsy for the real assassin, a man he called “Raoul.”
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2025
“It seems Nina Zenik has recanted her statements. She will face charges of perjury.”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
“DNA evidence, witnesses recanting their prior statements and polygraph testing all supported the ‘actual innocence’ claims of Jarvis Ballard,” district attorney Perry Nicosia wrote.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Mandelson's comments go further than others in government in recanting previous criticism of Trump.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2025
That information, the recanting, was initially hidden from Glossip, and he only found out about it a few years ago.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2024
Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday that her team has obtained “two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2023
Owning, disowning, recanting, recharting a hateful course of events to make sense of her complicity.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
