Standard Lemma guide

recapitulate

verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, UK: /ɹiːkəˈpɪtʃʊleɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IY2 K AH0 P IH1 CH AH0 L EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To summarize or repeat in concise form.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive

Examples

  • The entire symphony was recapitulated in the last four bars.
  • We still have five minutes left, so let's recapitulate the lecture.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To reproduce or closely resemble (as in structure or function).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To mirror or repeat in analogous form, especially in reference to an individual's development passing through stages corresponding to the species' stages of evolutionary development.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

summarize briefly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Let's recapitulate the main ideas

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: recap

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sum up, summarize, summarise, resume

Narrower terms: retrograde, rehash, hash over

5

verb

Meaning 5

repeat an earlier theme of a composition

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reprise, reprize, repeat

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: play, spiel

6

verb

Meaning 6

repeat stages of evolutionary development during the embryonic phase of life

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: duplicate, reduplicate, double, repeat, replicate

History

Etymology

From Late Latin recapitulātus, past participle of recapitulāre (“to go over the main points of a thing again”), from re- (“again”) + capitulum (“head, main part, chapter”), from caput (“head”) + -ulum (diminutive suffix); see capitulate. By surface analysis, re- + capitulate.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ամփոփել (ampʻopʻel) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Bulgarian: резюмирам (rezjumiram) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 摘要 (zhāiyào) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 提要 (tíyào) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 擇要 /择要 (zéyào) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小結 /小结 (xiǎojié) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 總結 /总结 (zǒngjié) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 歸結 /归结 (guījié) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 概括 (gàikuò) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 總括 /总括 (zǒngkuò) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 概述 (gàishù) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 歸納 /归纳 (guīnà) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Chinese Mandarin: 匯總 /汇总 (huìzǒng) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Dutch: samenvatten — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Esperanto: resumi — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Finnish: tehdä yhteenveto — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Finnish: vetää yhteen — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • French: récapituler — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • German: rekapitulieren — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • German: zusammenfassen — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • German: wiederholen — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • German: sich vergegenwärtigen (noch einmal) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Hungarian: átismétel — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Hungarian: áttekint — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Hungarian: összefoglal — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Irish: achoimrigh — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Japanese: 要約する (yōyaku suru) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Kazakh: түйіндеу (tüiındeu) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Korean: 요약하다 (yoyakhada) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Portuguese: recapitular — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Romanian: recapitula — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Russian: подыто́живать (podytóživatʹ) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Russian: подыто́жить (podytóžitʹ) — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Scottish Gaelic: ath-innis — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Spanish: recapitular — to summarize or repeat in concise form
  • Finnish: rekapituloida — to repeat the evolutionary stages of an organism
  • Finnish: seurata — to repeat the evolutionary stages of an organism