DictionaryAI

recount

SayREE-kowntUS/ˈɹiˌkaʊnt/UK/ˈɹiːkaʊnt/

Pluralrecounts

Verbrecounts, recounting, recounted

5 meanings of recount

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A second counting, especially of votes, carried out to confirm or correct the original total.

    Election officials ordered a recount after the margin narrowed to a few hundred votes.

    The close result triggered an automatic recount in three districts.

    Note

    An English-built word, re- plus count, unrelated to the narrative noun despite the spelling. Election reporting gives it its usual company: qualifiers that say how the second count is done, such as a manual recount, a hand recount or a full recount. The verbs say who acts: a candidate or party requests one, and officials order or conduct it.

  2. 2
    Sayri-KOWNT/ɹɪˈkaʊnt/
    verbtransitive
    To tell or narrate something that happened, relating the events in detail.

    The veteran would often recount his experiences during the war.

    In her memoir she recounts the years she spent abroad.

    Similarrelate, narrate, describe, recall, retell

  3. 3
    Sayree-KOWNTUS/ˌɹiˈkaʊnt/UK/ˌɹiːˈkaʊnt/
    verbtransitive
    To count a set of things again, typically to verify or correct an earlier total.

    Volunteers were asked to recount the ballots by hand.

    The accountant recounted the inventory after finding a discrepancy.

  4. 4
    Sayri-KOWNT/ɹɪˈkaʊnt/
    nouncountable
    A narration or account of events; a description or rendering of something.

    His vivid recount of the expedition captivated the entire audience.

    The historian's recount of the battle drew on letters and diaries.

    Similaraccount, narration, narrative, retelling, description

    Note

    Two separate words share this spelling. This one comes through Anglo-Norman recunter, a variant of Old French reconter, and belongs with telling. the vote-counting noun is simply re- plus count. Context usually settles which is meant: a recount of the expedition is a story, and a recount of the ballots is arithmetic.

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    Sayri-KOWNT/ɹɪˈkaʊnt/
    verbdatedtransitive
    To recite or go over a series of things in order, naming each one in turn.

    The old steward would recount the family's grievances at every gathering.

    In his speech he recounted each treaty the nation had signed.

    Similarrecite, list, enumerate, itemize

    Note

    Here telling turns into listing: to recount one's blessings is to name them over one at a time, not to narrate them. The use is dated and survives mostly in set phrases and formal writing. In plain prose, list or go through is the safer choice. Modern readers may also hear the "count again" verb in it, so let the context make the listing sense clear.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 2, 4–5

From Old Northern French and Anglo-Norman recunter, a variant of Old French reconter.

Meanings 1, 3

Formed from the prefix re- combined with count.