recapitulate

American  

[ree-kuh-pich-uh-leyt] / ˌri kəˈpɪtʃ əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

recapitulated, recapitulating

1. to review by a brief summary, as at the end of a speech or discussion; summarize.

2. Biology. (of an organism) to repeat (ancestral evolutionary stages) in its development.

3. Music. to restate (the exposition) in a sonata-form movement.

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verb (used without object)

recapitulated, recapitulating

1. to sum up statements or matters.

recapitulate British  

/ ˌriːkəˈpɪtjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to restate the main points of (an argument, speech, etc); summarize

2. (tr) (of an animal) to repeat (stages of its evolutionary development) during the embryonic stages of its life

3. to repeat at some point during a piece of music (material used earlier in the same work)

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Related Words

See repeat.

Other Word Forms

• recapitulative
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of recapitulate

First recorded in 1560–70; from Late Latin recapitulātus (past participle of recapitulāre ), equivalent to re- re- + capitulātus; see capitulate

Explanation

To recapitulate means to go back and summarize. At the end of an oral report, you might say, "So, to recapitulate, I've made three points," and then you name them. Recapitulate is a long, scary-looking word that actually means something simple and easy. It comes from the Latin re- "again" and capitulum "chapter," which comes from the word caput "head." Think of recapitulating––or recapping, for short––as putting nice little caps on all the bottles you've opened up––tightening everything up.

Example Sentences

“It would be tedious as well as unwelcome,” Lord Halifax said on another occasion, “to recapitulate all our wrong steps.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

So we and many others have worked for decades to make a medicine that could recapitulate that naturally-occurring phenomenon.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 15, 2024

What is important is that gastruloids recapitulate some features of early development even without the external cues from the placenta or yolk sac that typically direct the organization of an early embryo.

From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2023

Then, using fluorescence microscopy, the team revealed the presence of oxytocin directly on human intestinal organoids, also called mini guts, which are laboratory models of intestinal tissue that recapitulate many of its functions and structure.

From Science Daily • Nov. 2, 2023

Yet, uncannily, the trajectory of his psyche had begun to recapitulate Jagu’s.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• recap
• rehash