as in retracted
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as in renounced
to solemnly or formally reject or go back on (as something formerly adhered to)
the Inquisition forced Galileo to recant his support of the Copernican observation that the earth revolves around the sun
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Recent Examples of recanted
Jean Casarez,
CNN Money,
5 Oct. 2025
Richard A. Webster,
ProPublica,
29 June 2026
At least three people were arrested and police said at least four others have recanted.
—
Aj Willingham,
AJC.com,
17 June 2026
But that witness also recanted when prosecutors showed him the video of what happened.
—
J.d. Miles,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
Others have recanted and said police coerced them into implicating Washington and Simms.
—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
22 May 2026
However, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped charges against Santana after the 17-year-old accuser recanted his statements to prosecutors, television interviewers and on social media, according to court records.
—
Verónica Egui Brito,
Miami Herald,
14 May 2026
The conviction turned largely on eyewitness testimony that has since been recanted and scientific evidence that has since been debunked.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
8 May 2026
Bourgerie noted that Ball’s wife later recanted her allegations and that Ball had been named deputy of the year for the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office in 2025.
—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
8 May 2026
Epstein told a guard Tartaglione had attacked him, but later recanted.
—
ABC News,
7 May 2026
Adjective
The two who confessed – and later recanted – were convicted of capital murder and remained in prison until DNA evidence proving their innocence led to their release in 2009, prosecutors said.
—
Jean Casarez,
CNN Money,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
In addition, investigators working for Duncan’s legal team interviewed a jailhouse informant who recanted his earlier trial testimony that Duncan had confessed to the crime.
—
Richard A. Webster,
ProPublica,
29 June 2026
At least three people were arrested and police said at least four others have recanted.
—
Aj Willingham,
AJC.com,
17 June 2026
But that witness also recanted when prosecutors showed him the video of what happened.
—
J.d. Miles,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
Others have recanted and said police coerced them into implicating Washington and Simms.
—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
22 May 2026
However, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped charges against Santana after the 17-year-old accuser recanted his statements to prosecutors, television interviewers and on social media, according to court records.
—
Verónica Egui Brito,
Miami Herald,
14 May 2026
The conviction turned largely on eyewitness testimony that has since been recanted and scientific evidence that has since been debunked.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
8 May 2026
Bourgerie noted that Ball’s wife later recanted her allegations and that Ball had been named deputy of the year for the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office in 2025.
—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
8 May 2026
Epstein told a guard Tartaglione had attacked him, but later recanted.
—
ABC News,
7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recanted
Adjective
-
On April 22, 2026, Springer Nature posted a retracted article notice almost a year after initial publication.
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The reading assignments prepared for the judges include a Substack post by a notable climate contrarian accusing the authors of the retracted climate chapter in the federal court’s reference manual of including material by Burger and hiding his authorship.
Verb
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The 58-year-old construction tycoon renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, Ukrainian media reported, and has been a citizen of Cyprus since 2019.
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What follows are dozens of examples of how those whose names are familiar (or aren’t) and legendary (or infamous) for their actions while representing the state have been embraced (or renounced) by the rest of the country and beyond.
Adjective
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The withheld funding supports election monitoring, independent media and other pro-democracy programs abroad.
Verb
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After starring in a slew of movies with each other, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen withdrew from the spotlight to focus on launching The Row, a luxury fashion brand, in 2005.
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Del Toro beat him at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last month before Seixas later withdrew with injury — and UAE domestiques have made it onto the podium before, such as Adam Yates in 2024.
Adjective
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General Manager Ken Holland hinted at potentially being done after trading center Phillip Danault for a draft pick in December and acquiring Panarin at a suppressed price in February, though he has been known to under-promise often and, sometimes, over-deliver.
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Supervising sound editor Alastair Sirkett told IndieWire that Peter Claffey’s big, former-rugby-player frame really helps that moment sing with suppressed panic.
Verb
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Then multiple states filed lawsuits alleging the agency failed to conduct proper environmental reviews, which DHS denied.
-
The band had been denied the opportunity to perform during Haiti’s pre-World Cup friendly against Peru, despite the presence of a Peruvian band.
Adjective
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He’s played by Grégoire Colin, one of the great modern French actors, whose onscreen persona combines unrelieved woundedness with barely repressed violence.
-
Zhang, delivering his first fully Cantonese-language performance on the big screen, portrays a repressed small-time man caught between competing versions of reality.
Verb
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These emergency decisions have thrown lower courts’ processes into turmoil and have sometimes directly contradicted longstanding legal precedent.
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Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly, announced Monday that the official toll stood at 1,719 people killed and 5,000 injured, and warned the public against sharing information that contradicted authorities.
Cite this Entry
“Recanted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recanted. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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