recapitulation

[ ree-kuh-pich-uh-ley-shuh n ]

/ ˌri kəˌpɪtʃ əˈleɪ ʃən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR recapitulation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act of recapitulating or the state of being recapitulated.

a brief review or summary, as of a speech.

Biology. the theory that the stages an organism passes through during its embryonic development repeat the evolutionary stages of structural change in its ancestral lineage.

Music. the modified restatement of the exposition following the development section in a sonata-form movement.

RELATED WORDS

summary, peroration, reprise

Nearby words

Origin of recapitulation

1350–1400; Middle English recapitulacioun < Late Latin recapitulātiōn- (stem of recapitulātiō), equivalent to recapitulāt(us) (see recapitulate) + -iōn- -ion

Related formsre·ca·pit·u·la·tive, re·ca·pit·u·la·to·ry

[ree-kuh-pich-uh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˌri kəˈpɪtʃ ə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for recapitulation

The record of his thoughts is a disgrace to human nature, the record of his deeds, a recapitulation of crimes.
Heroines of the Crusades|C. A. Bloss
So it was no wonder his inquiry about them came early in this recapitulation.
When Ghost Meets Ghost|William Frend De Morgan
Father Rush's letter was little more than a recapitulation of the count's.
Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2)|Charles Lever
Chapters 30 and 31 contain the recapitulation and conclusion.
History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7)|Adolph Harnack

A recapitulation of the dates of arrival of the various units and of the vessels which carried them would be tedious.
Canada in Flanders, Volume II (of 3)|Lord Max Aitken Beaverbrook

British Dictionary definitions for recapitulation

recapitulation

/ (ˌriːkəˌpɪtjʊˈleɪʃən) /

noun

the act of recapitulating, esp summing up, as at the end of a speech

Also called: palingenesis biology the apparent repetition in the embryonic development of an animal of the changes that occurred during its evolutionary historyCompare caenogenesis

music the repeating of earlier themes, esp when forming the final section of a movement in sonata form

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for recapitulation

recapitulation

late 14c., "a summarizing," from Old French recapitulacion (13c.), from Late Latin recapitulationem (nominative recapitulatio), noun of action from past participle stem of recapitulare "go over the main points of a thing again," literally "restate by heads or chapters," from re- "again" (see re-) + capitulum "main part" (see chapter).