RECAPITULATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does recapitulation mean? 

• RECAPITULATION (noun)
  The noun RECAPITULATION has 4 senses:

1. emergence during embryonic development of various characters or structures that appeared during the evolutionary history of the strain or species

2. (music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) in which musical themes that were introduced earlier are repeated

3. a summary at the end that repeats the substance of a longer discussion

4. (music) the repetition of themes introduced earlier (especially when one is composing the final part of a movement)

  Familiarity information: RECAPITULATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RECAPITULATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Emergence during embryonic development of various characters or structures that appeared during the evolutionary history of the strain or species

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

palingenesis; recapitulation

Hypernyms ("recapitulation" is a kind of...):

development; growing; growth; maturation; ontogenesis; ontogeny ((biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level)

Derivation:

recapitulate (repeat stages of evolutionary development during the embryonic phase of life)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) in which musical themes that were introduced earlier are repeated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("recapitulation" is a kind of...):

section; subdivision (a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical))

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Derivation:

recapitulate (repeat an earlier theme of a composition)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A summary at the end that repeats the substance of a longer discussion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

recap; recapitulation; review

Hypernyms ("recapitulation" is a kind of...):

capitulation (a summary that enumerates the main parts of a topic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "recapitulation"):

epanodos (recapitulation of the main ideas of a speech (especially in reverse order))

Derivation:

recapitulate (summarize briefly)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(music) the repetition of themes introduced earlier (especially when one is composing the final part of a movement)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("recapitulation" is a kind of...):

composing; composition (musical creation)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

 Context examples 

He began his lecture by a recapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements made by different men of learning, pronouncing with fervour the names of the most distinguished discoverers.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But Mrs Musgrove, who got Anne near her on purpose to thank her most cordially, again and again, for all her attentions to them, concluded a short recapitulation of what she had suffered herself by observing, with a happy glance round the room, that after all she had gone through, nothing was so likely to do her good as a little quiet cheerfulness at home.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)