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Definition of recall verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

recall

verb
 
/rɪˈkɔːl/
 
/rɪˈkɔːl/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they recall
 
/rɪˈkɔːl/
 
/rɪˈkɔːl/
he / she / it recalls
 
/rɪˈkɔːlz/
 
/rɪˈkɔːlz/
past simple recalled
 
/rɪˈkɔːld/
 
/rɪˈkɔːld/
past participle recalled
 
/rɪˈkɔːld/
 
/rɪˈkɔːld/
-ing form recalling
 
/rɪˈkɔːlɪŋ/
 
/rɪˈkɔːlɪŋ/
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  1. [transitive, intransitive] (formal) (not used in the progressive tenses) to remember something synonym recollect
    • recall something She could not recall his name.
    • Many years later Muir recalled his days at Glasgow University.
    • I cannot recall a time when the country faced such serious problems.
    • ‘I may have; I don't recall,’ she said.
    • If I recall correctly, he lives in Luton.
    • recall doing something I can't recall meeting her before.
    • I vaguely recall seeing the film.
    • I seem to recall receiving an email from a reader a while ago.
    • recall somebody/something doing something I seem to recall him mentioning a brother once.
    • recall that… He recalled that she always came home late on Wednesdays.
    • She later recalled that she had met him once.
    • recall what, when, etc. Can you recall exactly what happened?
    • I can vividly recall where and when I saw them.
    • recall + speech ‘It was on a Thursday in March,’ he recalled.
    Extra Examples
    • Becky could still recall that first meeting clearly.
    • I am old enough now to wistfully recall moments of my youth.
    • I couldn't quite recall the date.
    • I recall reading in an interview that he loved to cook.
    • I seem to recall that she said she was going away.
    • I well recall walking the five miles to school every morning.
    • He could easily recall the smell of the orange groves.
    • She recalled how she would go for walks along the beach late at night.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • clearly
    • distinctly
    • vividly
    verb + recall
    • seem to
    • be able to
    • can
    phrases
    • recall how…
    • recall seeing, reading, hearing, etc. something
    See full entry
  2. [transitive] recall something (not used in the progressive tenses) to make somebody think of something synonym evoke
    • The poem recalls Eliot's ‘The Waste Land’.
  3. [transitive] to order somebody to return
    • recall somebody Both countries recalled their ambassadors.
    • recall somebody to something He was recalled to military duty.
    • They have both been recalled to the Welsh squad (= selected as members of the team after a time when they were not selected).
  4. [transitive] recall something to ask for something to be returned, often because there is something wrong with it
    • The company has recalled all the faulty hairdryers.
  5. Word Originlate 16th cent. (as a verb): from re- ‘again’ + call, suggested by Latin revocare or French rappeler ‘call back’.
See recall in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee recall in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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