recital
noun
Simple meaning
A public instance of reciting or repeating something prepared in advance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruhsytuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹəˈsaɪtəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A public instance of reciting or repeating (from memory) something prepared in advance
“The program included songs and recitations of well-loved poems.”
A vocal, instrumental or visual performance by a soloist.
The act of reciting (the repetition of something that has been memorized); rehearsal
The act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events
The act of telling the order of events of something in detail the order of events; narration.
That which is recited; a story, narration, account.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A vocal, instrumental or visual performance by a soloist.
Used this way, recital is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use recital
- “His wife gave a recital of his infidelities.”noun
- “He was forced to listen to a recital of his many shortcomings.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Written matter that is recited from memory.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.