recapitulation

American  

[ree-kuh-pich-uh-ley-shuhn] / ˌri kəˌpɪtʃ əˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of recapitulating or the state of being recapitulated.

2. a brief review or summary, as of a speech.

3. 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.

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

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recapitulation British  

/ ˌriːkəˌpɪtjʊˈleɪʃən /

noun

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

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

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

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Other Word Forms

• recapitulative
  adjective
• recapitulatory
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of recapitulation

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

Explanation

A recapitulation is a short summary. At the end of an hour-long speech, you should probably give a recapitulation if you want your audience to remember anything you’ve just said. A recapitulation, or "recap," is a summary, review, or restatement. The purpose of a recapitulation is to remind your reader or audience of your main points. There's no new information in a recapitulation, just the same information in a smaller, more condensed form. The prefix re- is a signal that a recapitulation involves repeating something.

Example Sentences

Recapitulation for the 72nd House: Drys 285 Wets 109 Contests 24 Weaslers 17 Total 435 Superintendent McBride has claimed a Dry strength of 325 in the next House.

From Time Magazine Archive

General Considerations on the Ox-Typhus, and the Recapitulation of the Symptoms.

From On the cattle plague: or, Contagious typhus in horned cattle. Its history, origin, description, and treatment by Bourguignon, Honor?

The body of the movement is in abridged sonata form, i.e., there is a complete Exposition with first, second and closing themes, and the usual Recapitulation, but no Development proper.

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

The Recapitulation is somewhat shortened and the melodic outline of the second theme is slightly changed; otherwise it corresponds with the Exposition.

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

I shall here subjoin a short Recapitulation of the Whole, that it may with all its Parts be comprehended at one View.

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Jorgenson, Chester E.