Recitare

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To perform a piece of literature aloud from memory; to act out a character's role in a play or dramatic work; to deliver a prepared speech or poem before an audience
2. To orally present written material as a performance; to embody a theatrical character through spoken expression; to publicly declaim poetry or prose with practiced memorization
3. To repeat a text aloud with expressive intention; to portray a part in a stage production through spoken word; to announce or read a composition in front of listeners from memory

Etymology: In Latin, "recitare" was built from "re-" and "citare," and "citare" was itself a frequentative of "ciere," meaning to stir or summon. To "cite" was therefore to call someone forward or set something in motion. The prefix "re-" may simply intensify the verb here rather than mean "again," though its exact force is uncertain. The Roman sense was reading aloud, especially a document or a list, before an audience. Over time it came to mean delivering a memorized text, which is how a performer's spoken lines and a poet's declaimed verses both came under the same verb. English "recite" and "cite" descend from the same Latin root, so the summoning sense survives in "cite" while the public, spoken sense passed to "recite."

Synonyms: recite, deliver, read aloud, repeat, chant

Antonyms: improvise, silence