recital
Americannoun
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a musical entertainment given usually by a single performer or by a performer and one or more accompanists.
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a similar entertainment in a field other than music.
a dance recital.
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a program or concert by dance or music students to demonstrate their achievements or progress.
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an act or instance of reciting.
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a formal or public delivery of something memorized.
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a detailed statement.
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an account, narrative, or description.
He gave a recital of the things he'd been doing since we'd last seen him.
noun
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a musical performance by a soloist or soloists Compare concert
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the act of reciting or repeating something learned or prepared
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an account, narration, or description
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a detailed statement of facts, figures, etc
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(often plural) law the preliminary statement in a deed showing the reason for its existence and leading up to and explaining the operative part
Synonym Usage
See narrative.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of recital
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."
Vocabulary lists containing recital
Matilda
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Drama
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On the Come Up
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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.
See Examples For:
He was familiar with “Anthem” from musical theater class and “Someone Else’s Story” from a voice recital his sister did.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
That recital began a day the likes of which no British royal has experienced in centuries.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Not many people can say they've been given a private piano recital by Sir Anthony Hopkins.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025
The Park Avenue Armory’s recital series is a good place to catch interesting vocalists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2025
“Naw, she ain’t that young. And you saw her in that last recital? She killed it.”
From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson
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
No one likes those organ recitals about doctors missing critical signs and symptoms because they didn’t dig deep enough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Her father had toured the world, performing on cruise ships as well as giving piano recitals at country hotels, but like many others switched careers to help with the war effort after 1939.
From BBC ● Nov. 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
Unselfishly jeopardizing her professional reputation as a teacher, Aunt Anne always allowed each of us to play in the annual recitals at her music school.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
