recapitulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to review by a brief summary, as at the end of a speech or discussion; summarize.
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Biology. (of an organism) to repeat (ancestral evolutionary stages) in its development.
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Music. to restate (the exposition) in a sonata-form movement.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to restate the main points of (an argument, speech, etc); summarize
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(tr) (of an animal) to repeat (stages of its evolutionary development) during the embryonic stages of its life
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to repeat at some point during a piece of music (material used earlier in the same work)
Synonym Usage
See repeat.
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing recapitulate
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Vocabulary to Describe Literary Devices
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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.
To Recapitulate: We have here a young woman who for a year had indefinite mental symptoms and suddenly developed a stupor.
From Benign Stupors A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type by MacCurdy, John T. (John Thompson)
Recapitulate the five changes in the digestive process.
From A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) by Cutter, Calvin
Recapitulate, rē-ka-pit′ū-lāt, v.t. to go over again the chief points of anything.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
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.
