recounting

Pluralrecountings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An instance of describing or narrating events, especially a detailed telling of what took place.

   Like a replay in words, walking listeners back through events as they unfolded.

   Her tearful recounting of the accident silenced the whole room.

   The witness's recounting differed sharply from the official report.

   Similaraccount, retelling, narration, description, telling

   Note

   The noun counts like any other. Recountings is the plural, and it suits a story told over and over: Sam Tanenhaus, in the New York Times in 2007, has sidekicks greeting a man's repeated recountings with a chorus of groans. The noun leans toward telling. A second tally of votes is covered by the noun recount, which sidesteps the double meaning of the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of recount.

   The captain is recounting how the rescue finally unfolded.

   Recounting the war years left her quietly exhausted.

   Note

   One spelling, two verbs underneath it. Recounting can mean telling something in detail, or counting it again, as with votes. Context settles which: recounting the war years is narration, while recounting the ballots is arithmetic. After be it forms the progressive (she is recounting). As a gerund it fills noun slots (Recounting the war years left her exhausted). An older, now dated use means listing things one by one.

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