recapitulate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb summarize briefly
    recap.
    • Let's recapitulate the main ideas
  2. verb repeat stages of evolutionary development during the embryonic phase of life
  3. verb repeat an earlier theme of a composition
    repeat; reprise; reprize.

WordNet

Re*ca*pit"u*late transitive verb
Etymology
L. recapitulare, recapitulatum; pref. re- re- + capitulum a small head, chapter, section. See Capitulate.
Definitions
  1. To repeat, as the principal points in a discourse, argument, or essay; to give a summary of the principal facts, points, or arguments of; to relate in brief; to summarize.
Re`ca*pit"u*late intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To sum up, or enumerate by heads or topics, what has been previously said; to repeat briefly the substance.

Webster 1913