recitation
Americannoun
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recitations
plural
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an act of reciting.
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a reciting or repeating of something from memory, especially formally or publicly.
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oral response by a pupil or pupils to a teacher on a prepared lesson.
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a period of classroom instruction.
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an elocutionary delivery of a piece of poetry or prose, without the text, before an audience.
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a piece so delivered or for such delivery.
noun
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the act of reciting from memory, or a formal reading of verse before an audience
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something recited
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of recitation
1475–85; < Latin recitātiōn- (stem of recitātiō ), equivalent to recitāt ( us ) (past participle of recitāre to recite ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you've ever repeated a rhyming poem from memory in front of an audience, you've given a recitation. The noun recitation comes from the word "recite." When you recite, or say something you've memorized, you give a recitation. This happens a lot in school and in religious traditions, but you might also hear your know-it-all friend give an impromptu recitation of a famous director's films or every Beatles song in alphabetical order. The word comes from the Latin prefix re, "again," and the word citare, "to summon." Summoning again from memory is recitation.
Vocabulary lists containing recitation
The Vocabulary of College
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Passover Vocabulary
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"Slam: Performance Poetry Lives On" and "Euphoria"
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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:
I led everyone gathered in the auditorium in a rousing recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
It’s worth a recitation of the original case’s backstory at this point, because this litigation has become a house of cards, with new, precarious levels being added all the time.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2025
At Paul Revere Junior High, Russell won first place at a Shakespeare Festival for his sonnet recitation.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2025
On the outside, it seems like it’s a quiet, calm ballad as it opens; Ellis on guitar, a recitation of the story of "a girl who’s got no history / got no past."
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
It's a cool morning, and even though I'm twelve now, I don't have a choice—it's cod-liver oil and Latin recitation and the endless, tedious Wohlfahrt viola etudes.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
Like his Instagram account, there are contextless videos and spoken-word recitations.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
Those familiar with his campaign-rally routines will know Trump’s many recitations of “The Snake,” something he refers to as a poem but is really a song from the 1960s.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Testing the human animal’s tolerance for plaintive fiddles, wheezy bagpipes, Peter Coyote and the whispery recitations of diary entries, “The American Revolution” is the most Ken Burns-y of Ken Burns series.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
Tadjadit became prominent for his public recitations during protests by the Hirak movement, which erupted in February 2019 and helped force the resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025
The children’s pronunciation was crisp and mature, so distant from Michael’s stiff recitations back on Randall.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
