recant

verb

1)

he was forced to recant his political beliefs

Syn:

renounce, disavow, deny, repudiate, renege on; formal forswear, abjure

2)

he refused to recant

Syn:

change one's mind, be apostate; rare tergiversate

3)

he recanted his testimony

Syn:

retract, take back, withdraw, unsay

••

recant, recount

Recant = publicly repudiate a previous statement, belief, or accusation. Recount = narrate a past event, esp. from personal experience. Recant sometimes erroneously displaces the similar-sounding recount — e.g.: "Dressed in a top hat and tails, Garrett chats with his riders and recants [read recounts] tales of Weston's glory days." (Des Moines Register; May 19, 2002.) The Oxford English Dictionary does give "recount" as one sense of recant but labels it obsolete and rare. The most recent example is from 1611.

Recant is best reserved for use with personal statements and public positions (think cant = sing). Other words are better suited when the thing taken back is something other than words — e.g.:

• "The state's consumer counsel has asked state regulators to recant [read reverse] a recent decision under which she said Yankee Gas ratepayers would bear all of the costs of the company's proposed multimillion-dollar system expansion." (Hartford Courant; Feb. 14, 2002.)

• "Why do I feel like I’m listening to a deathbed confession by someone who's been a bastard all his life and suddenly, at the 11th hour, is terrified and wants to recant [read make up for or renounce?] his evil ways?" (Daily News Leader [Staunton, VA]; Mar. 5, 2002.)

Recant may be transitive (as in the first use in the following example) or intransitive (as in the second): "Police have a follow-up interview scheduled with Olowokandi's former girlfriend, Suzanne Ketcham, who says she plans to recant her original statements to them and a representative of the district attorney's special victims unit. ‘It's not unusual for victims of domestic abuse to recant,’ Nilsson said." (Los Angeles Times; Dec. 7, 2001.) — BG