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

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Etymology

Origin of recital

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

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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

Ms. Kingsolver dramatizes it by way of a village recital, turning to music to evoke the feelings that straightforward exposition would heavy-handedly summarize.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Rather, he was sitting in the audience of a local dance recital, waiting on his two young daughters, Sloan and Stella, who were each making their solo dancing debut with their company.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Did watching my son perform at his piano recital cause my breaths to get shallow?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

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’s why she was having this recital with Miss Miller.

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English

That means the absence is not only felt physically, missing birthdays, school recitals, and holidays like Father's Day, but also emotionally.

From BBC ● May 23, 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

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

Videos of vibrant mosque ceilings and poetry recitals feature alongside captions that offer quick, insightful context.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025

Mummy always dutifully showed up at any school-sanctioned, required events like plays or choir recitals.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

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Related Words

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

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