Definition of "recant"

recant¹

/ɹəˈkænt/

verb
third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted
1. (transitive, intransitive) To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.
  Quotations
  How soon […] ease would recant / Vows made in pain, as violent and void!
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  But as Mr. Trump denounces what he describes as failures by the Washington establishment on China, Mr. Biden, an avatar of that establishment, is not recanting his past enthusiasm for engagement.
  2020 September 6, “Joe Biden’s China Journey”, in New York Times‎

recant²

/ɹəˈkænt/

verb
third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted
1. To give a new cant (slant, angle) to something, in particular railway track on a curve.
  Quotations
  Numerous curves, which previously had given no trouble at 75 and 80 m.p.h., were realigned and recanted to adapt them for 90 m.p.h. and more, [...].
  1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263

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