recounts

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of recount.

   The old sailor recounts his shipwreck with a different ending each time.

   Each chapter recounts a single year in the family's history.

   Note

   Here the -s marks a single subject in the present: she recounts, the committee recounts. The verb behind it carries two live meanings that only context separates, telling in detail and counting again. So "the clerk recounts the ballots" and "the clerk recounts the night" use one form two ways. An older use, to enumerate or rehearse a list, now sounds dated. For the noun spelled the same way, see the plural noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of recount.

   The disputed election triggered multiple recounts across several districts.

   After three recounts, the margin between the candidates barely shifted.

   Note

   Two nouns share this plural. One is the electoral kind: a close race can bring several recounts, each a fresh tally of the votes. The other is a recount as a narration or rendering, so the recounts of a battle are the different accounts given of it. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so whether recounts names a thing or an action depends on the sentence around it.

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