recant

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈkænt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ænt

Etymology 1

First attested in 1535, from Latin recantare, present active infinitive of recanto (“to sing back, reecho, sing again, repeat in singing, recant, recall, revoke, charm back or away”), from re- (“back”) + canto (“to chant, to sing”), frequentative of cano.

Verb

recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.

   Synonyms: abjure, disavow, disown, recall, retract, revoke, take back, unsay, withcall; see also Thesaurus:recant

   Convince me that I am wrong, and I will recant.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     How soon […] ease would recant / Vows made in pain, as violent and void!

   • 2020 September 6, “Joe Biden’s China Journey”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     But as Mr. Trump denounces what he describes as failures by the Washington establishment on China, Mr. Biden, an avatar of that establishment, is not recanting his past enthusiasm for engagement.

Related terms

• recantation
• recanter

Translations

to withdraw or repudiate formally and publicly

• Bulgarian: отричам се (otričam se), отмятам се (otmjatam se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 撤回 (zh) (chèhuí)

• Czech: odvolat (cs)
• Dutch: intrekken (nl), terugtrekken (nl)
• Finnish: vetää takaisin, perua puheensa; muuttaa lausuntoaan (in court)
• French: rétracter (fr), se rétracter (fr), retirer (fr)
• German: zurücknehmen (de), zurückziehen (de), widerrufen (de)
• Greek: αποκηρύσσω (el) (apokirýsso), αναιρώ (el) (anairó), παλινωδώ (el) (palinodó)
• Icelandic: taka aftur, draga til baka
• Maori: whakakore
• Russian: отрека́ться (ru) (otrekátʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: opozvati (sh), poreći (sh)
• Spanish: retractarse (es)
• Thai: กลับคำ (th) (glàp-kam), คืนคำ (th) (kʉʉn-kam), ถอนคำ (tɔ̌ɔn-kam), ถอนคำพูด (tɔ̌ɔn-kam-pûut)

See also

• contradict
• recall
• revoke

Etymology 2

From re- +‎ cant.

Verb

recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)

1. To give a new cant (slant, angle) to something, in particular railway track on a curve.
   • 1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

     Numerous curves, which previously had given no trouble at 75 and 80 m.p.h., were realigned and recanted to adapt them for 90 m.p.h. and more, [...].

Further reading

• “recant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “recant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “recant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “recant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Canter, Cretan, canter, carnet, centra, creant, nectar, tanrec, trance

Catalan

Verb

recant

1. gerund of recar