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
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End
Howe’s book recapitulates his theory that a cyclical pattern underlies Anglo-American history.
—
Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 10 Dec. 2024
That left the scientists behind this new research wondering whether pain from Long Covid could also be recapitulated.
—Byjennifer Couzin-Frankel, science.org, 21 June 2024
In serving to both replace and recapitulate a past dog, the business of cloning becomes a kind of scientific magic trick, dealing in the language of cell cultures, cryopreservation, embryo transfers—opaque words for an opaque process.
—Alexandra Horowitz, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
But given that Ukraine has not advanced on the battlefield for over a year, negotiations held now risk, at best, recapitulating the diplomacy behind the ineffective Minsk agreements, which ended the Donbas war of 2014–15 without constraining Russia’s will to control Ukraine.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for recapitulate
Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 10 Dec. 2024
That left the scientists behind this new research wondering whether pain from Long Covid could also be recapitulated.
—Byjennifer Couzin-Frankel, science.org, 21 June 2024
In serving to both replace and recapitulate a past dog, the business of cloning becomes a kind of scientific magic trick, dealing in the language of cell cultures, cryopreservation, embryo transfers—opaque words for an opaque process.
—Alexandra Horowitz, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
But given that Ukraine has not advanced on the battlefield for over a year, negotiations held now risk, at best, recapitulating the diplomacy behind the ineffective Minsk agreements, which ended the Donbas war of 2014–15 without constraining Russia’s will to control Ukraine.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for recapitulate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recapitulate
summarize
Verb
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In addition, a 2023 study in the journal of HealthCare summarized how gambling among college students is associated with poor academic performance, violence, substance use, mental health symptoms, and even suicide.—
Eric Wood,
Forbes.com,
23 Aug. 2025
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These devices transcribe the people around you, and often summarize your day, with the ability to extrapolate tasks and insights from your conversations.—
Julian Chokkattu,
Wired News,
23 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Recapitulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recapitulate. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.
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