as in to summarize
to make into a short statement of the main points (as of a report)
the professor told the students that their papers should not recapitulate the whole plot but should rather discuss in detail one particular incident they thought was interesting
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Recent Examples of recapitulate
But the collision of townhouses and tower, balconies and bays — all those protrusions veering in different directions — recapitulate the whole trajectory of New York living and resemble a cartoonist’s rendering of the city’s chaotic jangle.
—
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 28 Jan. 2026
Raven’s marvel of a case study recapitulates the dissonance whereby cycles—political, social, structural, ecological—continue, monuments are created and destroyed and momentum is incited and frustrated, all while costs continue to mount.
—Anne Reeve, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
The themes of this embarrassing episode were recapitulated throughout two more tortuous years of talks.
—Mike Gallagher, Foreign Affairs, 26 July 2023
Because they are seen as a critical step in a grand technological evolution in aviation that will recapitulate the migration, just beginning now, of the automotive industry from combustion engines to electric motors.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 June 2018
See All Example Sentences for recapitulate
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 28 Jan. 2026
Raven’s marvel of a case study recapitulates the dissonance whereby cycles—political, social, structural, ecological—continue, monuments are created and destroyed and momentum is incited and frustrated, all while costs continue to mount.
—Anne Reeve, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
The themes of this embarrassing episode were recapitulated throughout two more tortuous years of talks.
—Mike Gallagher, Foreign Affairs, 26 July 2023
Because they are seen as a critical step in a grand technological evolution in aviation that will recapitulate the migration, just beginning now, of the automotive industry from combustion engines to electric motors.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 June 2018
See All Example Sentences for recapitulate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recapitulate
summarize
Verb
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By the time a signal travels from the people doing the work to the people leading the organization, it’s been filtered, summarized, and optimized at every layer in between.—
Adrienne Down Coulson,
Fortune,
2 June 2026
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Markey sent Amazon a letter in October 2025 asking how Familiar Faces works, and summarized Amazon’s responses in a February 2026 letter that repeated his call to end Familiar Faces.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Recapitulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recapitulate. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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