recite
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to recite a lesson or part of a lesson for a teacher.
-
to recite or repeat something from memory.
verb
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to repeat (a poem, passage, etc) aloud from memory before an audience, teacher, etc
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(tr) to give a detailed account of
-
(tr) to enumerate (examples, etc)
Related Words
See relate.
Other Word Forms
- prerecite verb (used with object)
- recitable adjective
- reciter noun
- unrecited adjective
- well-recited adjective
Etymology
Origin of recite
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English reciten, from Latin recitāre “to read aloud,” equivalent to re- + citāre “to summon”; re-, cite 1
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.
Jacques watched Christopher as he recited the way through the maze back to her; back and forth they went, until he had it like a song, etched in his mind.
From Literature
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So Isaac and Jacob carry Father up to the deck, and then we recite the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead.
From Literature
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Christian priests recited prayers and hymns were sung, before the body was taken for cremation.
From BBC
The movie opens with her reciting lines from a story that casts her as a brave royal determined to reclaim a baby from a goblin king.
From Salon
Protesters, some wearing clerical stoles draped over their shoulders, knelt while singing hymns and reciting the Lord’s Prayer in frigid conditions before being handcuffed and led away, video showed.
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.