recital

American  

[ri-sahyt-l] / rɪˈsaɪt l /

noun

1. a musical entertainment given usually by a single performer or by a performer and one or more accompanists.

2. a similar entertainment in a field other than music.

   a dance recital.

3. a program or concert by dance or music students to demonstrate their achievements or progress.

4. an act or instance of reciting.

5. a formal or public delivery of something memorized.

6. a detailed statement.

7. an account, narrative, or description.

   He gave a recital of the things he'd been doing since we'd last seen him.

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recital British  

/ rɪˈsaɪtəl /

noun

1. a musical performance by a soloist or soloists Compare concert

2. the act of reciting or repeating something learned or prepared

3. an account, narration, or description

4. a detailed statement of facts, figures, etc

5. (often plural) law the preliminary statement in a deed showing the reason for its existence and leading up to and explaining the operative part

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Related Words

See narrative.

Other Word Forms

• nonrecital noun
• prerecital noun
• recitalist noun

Etymology

Origin of recital

First recorded in 1505–15; recite + -al ²

Example Sentences

That recital began a day the likes of which no British royal has experienced in centuries.

From BBC

There are scenes of Jewish holidays, birthdays, a bat mitzvah, a student recital and a medical scare.

From The Wall Street Journal

Our waiter overhears my mom’s impromptu poetry recital and tells us that the statue was built years ago and kept in storage for over a decade because Spaniards are divided in their feelings for Lorca.

From Literature

But what was once known as the Lieder recital — the German title for songs in a genre once dominated by Schubert, Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss — has approached its sell-by date.

From Los Angeles Times

But Forté was actually “an inquisitive 8-year-old who played the violin in a youth orchestra and even had a recital at the vaunted Brooklyn Academy of Music,” according to GQ.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• concert
• musical
• presentation
• reading
• recitation
• rehearsal