recital

Everyday

1. A performance of music, dance or poetry, often by one person or by pupils, for an audience. tree →
2. A spoken list or account of many things, one after another: a recital of complaints. tree →
3. The act of saying a poem or text aloud from memory (recitation). tree →

In the lessons

In everyday and school life, a piano recital or dance recital is a show where pupils perform what they have learned for parents. In stories, a recital can be a nervous, exciting moment. "A recital of facts" means a long telling of them. Phrases: piano recital, dance recital, give a recital, end-of-year recital.

Examples

• My piano recital is on Saturday. tree →
• Everyone clapped at the end of the dance recital. tree →
• She practised her violin every day before the recital. tree →
• Our class gave a poetry recital in assembly. tree →
• Grandma listened to my long recital of everything that went wrong at school. tree →
• I was nervous before the recital, but I played well. tree →
• "How very confusing!" said the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me over again, for everything has got so mixed up?" tree →

Note

Countable: a recital, recitals. From the verb "recite" (say aloud from memory). A recital is a performance; a "rehearsal" is the practice before it.