from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To make a formal retraction or disavowal of (a statement or belief to which one has previously committed oneself).
- intransitive v. To make a formal retraction or disavowal of a previously held statement or belief.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To withdraw from or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- transitive v. To withdraw or repudiate formally and publicly (opinions formerly expressed); to contradict, as a former declaration; to take back openly; to retract; to recall.
- intransitive v. To revoke a declaration or proposition; to unsay what has been said; to retract.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To sing over again; utter repeatedly in song.
- To unsay; contradict or withdraw formally (something which one had previously asserted); renounce; disavow; retract: as, to recant one's opinion or profession of faith.
- Synonyms Abjure, Forswear, etc. See renounce.
- To revoke a declaration or proposition; unsay what has been said; renounce or disavow an opinion or a dogma formerly maintained; especially, to announce formally one's abandonment of a religious belief.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
Anyone with any knowledge of DV knows how often victims recant, which is why there are laws allowing police to prosecute them even in the absence of cooperation from the victim.
That girl, whose latest breath ascended in this sublime expression of self-oblivion, did not utter the word recant either with her lips or in her heart.
With the recent 'recant' of the first accuser and the acquittal of the charges brought against Michael Jackson in 2005, peace will never be still.
So, tell me then ... what was the statement that the Vatican demanded that Galileo "recant"?
If so, WHAT was it that the Vatican demanded that he "recant"?
But with this issue, the bishop must "recant," i.e. not just renounce his views but seek human and divine forgiveness.
The Mustache Institute - a tongue-in-check group dedicated to defending a man's right to sport a mustache against modern aversions - is demanding Snarr "recant" his shaving pledge and find another way to support the Children's Miracle Network.
is "recant" like decant? but after you've spent all that time letting it air right n all, whacking it back in the decanter, for later use. doesnt it just get more sour?
'recant' was given by the Party Central Committee and delivered by Liu Shaoqi.
In the early hours of Wednesday, November 8, the networks declared Bush the winner of Florida and the presidency, only to recant that a short time later and conclude that the outcome in Florida, and thus of the national election, was too close to call.