recapitulate
verb
re·ca·pit·u·late
ˌrē-kə-ˈpi-chə-ˌlāt 
recapitulated; recapitulating; recapitulates
1
: to retell or restate briefly : summarize
recapitulate the main points of an argument
He is best when commenting on the words of others; he is worst when attempting to recapitulate the history of sports or boxing.—
Arthur Krystal
Arthur KrystalTo recapitulate the ten presidential elections since 1952 does not in itself advance our understanding of the huge changes taking place in American political behavior.—Bernard A. Weisberger
Bernard A. Weisberger2
: to give new form or expression to
With massive, forbidding bulwarks, crenellated parapets, watchtowers buttressing the corners of the walls, his notion of a prison recapitulated the forms of medieval fear and paranoia.—John Edgar Wideman
John Edgar Wideman3
a
: to repeat the principal stages or phases of (a process, such as a biological process)
This chapter dwells on the recurring theme that carcinogenesis recapitulates embryogenesis …—Shi-Ming Tu
Shi-Ming Tu
b
: to reproduce or closely resemble (as in structure or function)
… the animal model should recapitulate if not the entire human disease phenotype, then at least the key attributes under study.—Thomas A. Milne
Thomas A. MilneThe field of tissue engineering aims to recapitulate native tissue function toward replacing damaged or diseased tissues and organs.—Jennifer K. Lee et al.
Jennifer K. Lee et al.
: to make or be able to make a summary : sum up
To recapitulate, at the center of a black hole … there resides a singularity: a region in which time no longer exists …—Kip S. Thorne
Kip S. Thorne
Did you know?
Capitulation originally meant the organizing of material under headings. So recapitulation usually involves the gathering of the main ideas in a brief summary. But a recapitulation may be a complete restatement as well. In many pieces of classical music, the recapitulation, or recap, is the long final section of a movement, where the earlier music is restated in the main key.
Synonyms
Examples of recapitulate in a Sentence
To recapitulate what was said earlier, we need to develop new ways to gain customers.
We understood your point, there's no need to recapitulate.
Recent Examples on the Web
That left the scientists behind this new research wondering whether pain from Long Covid could also be recapitulated.
—Byjennifer Couzin-Frankel, science.org, 21 June 2024
In serving to both replace and recapitulate a past dog, the business of cloning becomes a kind of scientific magic trick, dealing in the language of cell cultures, cryopreservation, embryo transfers—opaque words for an opaque process.
—Alexandra Horowitz, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
But given that Ukraine has not advanced on the battlefield for over a year, negotiations held now risk, at best, recapitulating the diplomacy behind the ineffective Minsk agreements, which ended the Donbas war of 2014–15 without constraining Russia’s will to control Ukraine.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023
Wednesday’s hearing largely recapitulated the attacks on EcoHealth that have been floating in the right-wing fever swamp for four years now.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for recapitulate 
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Byjennifer Couzin-Frankel, science.org, 21 June 2024
In serving to both replace and recapitulate a past dog, the business of cloning becomes a kind of scientific magic trick, dealing in the language of cell cultures, cryopreservation, embryo transfers—opaque words for an opaque process.
—Alexandra Horowitz, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
But given that Ukraine has not advanced on the battlefield for over a year, negotiations held now risk, at best, recapitulating the diplomacy behind the ineffective Minsk agreements, which ended the Donbas war of 2014–15 without constraining Russia’s will to control Ukraine.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023
Wednesday’s hearing largely recapitulated the attacks on EcoHealth that have been floating in the right-wing fever swamp for four years now.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for recapitulate
Dictionary Entries Near recapitulate
Cite this Entry
“Recapitulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recapitulate. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
recapitulate
verb
re·ca·pit·u·late
ˌrē-kə-ˈpich-ə-ˌlāt
recapitulated; recapitulating
: to give a brief summary : summarize
recapitulation
noun
-ˌpich-ə-ˈlā-shən
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