recant \ri-KANT\, verb:
1. to withdraw or disavow (a statement, opinion, etc.), especially formally; retract.
2. to withdraw or disavow a statement, opinion, etc., especially formally.
In the circumstances, Mr Badby, I feel that I can offer you a pension in return for your decision to recant.
-- Robert Nye, Falstaff
It was the only part of it they really wanted me to recant, as a sign that I was getting well again.
-- Stephen King, Skeleton Crew
This Reformation era word entered the lexicon in the 1530s from the Latin cantāre meaning "to sing." Thus recant literally translates as "to sing again" or "to sing back."
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