to withdraw or renounce (beliefs or statements formerly held), esp. in a formal or public manner
Origin of recant
Classical Latin recantare from re-, back, again + cantare, frequentative of canere, to sing: see chant
verb
To recant is to publicly take back something you said or to state that you no longer believe something in which you once believed.
When you say that you no longer hold the religious beliefs you did in the past, this is an example of a situation where you recant.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"recant." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant>.
APA Style
recant. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant
recant
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"recant." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant>.
APA Style
recant. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant
recant
verb
re·cant·ed, re·cant·ing, re·cantsverb
transitiveTo make a formal retraction or disavowal of (a statement or belief to which one has previously committed oneself).
verb
intransitiveTo make a formal retraction or disavowal of a previously held statement or belief.
Origin of recant
Latin recantāre re- re- cantāre to sing frequentative of canere ; see kan- in Indo-European roots.Related Forms:
- re′can·ta′tion
noun
- re·cant′er
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"recant." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant>.
APA Style
recant. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant
Verb
(third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"recant." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant>.
APA Style
recant. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/recant
Sentence Examples
- Attempts were made by the officials to induce him to recant, but without effect.
- He was compelled to recant, under strong pressure from Pope Innocent III.
- Barnes was forced to apologize and recant; and Gardiner delivered a series of sermons at St Paul's Cross to counteract Barnes' invective.
- After he had been tied to the stake and the faggots had been piled, he was for the last time urged to recant, but his only reply was: "God is my witness that I have never taught or preached that which false witnesses have testified against me.
- Berengar in a weak moment in 1059 was forced by the pope to recant and assert that " the true body and blood are not only a sacrament, but in truth touched and broken by the hands of the priests and pressed by the teeth of the faithful," and this position remains in every Roman catechism.
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