recant

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈkænt/

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• Rhymes: -ænt

First attested in 1535, from Latin recantare (“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.

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

1. (ambitransitive) 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.

• recantation
• recanter

• contradict
• recall
• revoke

From re- +‎ cant.

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, [...].

• “recant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “recant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “recant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “recant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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

recant

1. gerund of recar