recital

American  

[ri-sahyt-l] / rɪˈsaɪt l /

noun

• recitals
  plural

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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Synonym Usage

See narrative.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrecital
  noun
• prerecital
  noun
• recitalist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• recitals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of recital

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

Explanation

The hardest part about piano lessons is having to give a recital, or to demonstrate what you've learned in front of an audience. You can also use the noun recital to describe the telling of a story. Your uncle might be famous for boring people at parties with his recital of youthful Boy Scout adventures, for example. In the 1500s, recital was strictly a legal term, the "statement of relevant facts," but the musical meaning had come into use by the 1800s. The root is the Latin word recitare, "repeat from memory."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recital recitals

He gave his last recital from memory at age 94.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

She celebrated her 97th birthday with a recital at Lebanon Valley College, Pennsylvania; and returned to Decca in 2022 to record what would become her final album.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

A highlight was to have been a pair of songs by León, with texts by Kevin Young, written for the recital, but they were apparently not yet ready.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2026

I just don’t know her, and so I was having trouble paying attention to the details of her disastrous dance recital.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

When she goes to the dance recitals, it’s clear that she can’t dance and we always ask her, “Do you know the dance?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026

As a child, she was shuttled from school to dance recitals by her mother, while her motorsport-loving father took her brother to the local race circuit.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

But her gifts were entirely her own, as attested to by this 20-disc collection of Deutsche Grammophon recordings, including her complete recitals for the label.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

He says the day would start with Quran recitals at dawn, followed by lessons at a madrassa - religious school - and preaching sessions at the mosque.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025

They went to plays and operas and concerts in the parks, listened to string quartets and piano recitals in office-building lobbies, attended movie screenings, and visited museums.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Related Words

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