recall

present singular third person recalls · participle present recalling · participle past recalled · past recalled · alternative obsolete recal · alternative re-call

1. transitiveTo withdraw, retract (one's words etc.); to revoke (an order).First known use 16th c.

   Synonyms: withcall, abjure, backpedal, disavow, disown, eat one's words, recant, retract

2. transitiveTo call back, bring back, or summon (someone) to a specific place, station, etc.First known use 16th c.

   She was recalled to London for the trial.

   2 more examples

   He was recalled to service after his retirement.

   Fernando Torres was recalled in place of the suspended Didier Drogba and he was only denied a goal in the opening seconds by Laurent Koscielny's intervention - a moment that set the tone for game filled with attacking quality and littered with errors.

   2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport

3. UStransitivegovernmentTo remove an elected official through a petition and direct vote.

   That stop-start-stop has created a groundswell of anger toward Mr. Newsom, a Democrat in the third year of his first term, that is increasingly fueling a movement to recall him from office in one of the bluest of blue states.

   2021 February 19, Nellie Bowles, “Hurt by Lockdowns, California’s Small Businesses Push to Recall Governor”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

4. transitiveTo bring back (someone) to or from a particular mental or physical state, activity etc.First known use 16th c.
5. intransitivetransitiveTo call back (a situation, event, etc.) to one's mind; to remember; to recollect.First known use 16th c.

   In fact, I hardly recall any occasion as a child when I was alone.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 10

   5 more examples

   Nevertheless, there were many passengers on the recent special trains to whom the immaculate little 80-year-old "Terrier," No. 32636, formerly Fenchurch, and its two L.B.S.C.R. coaches, recalled nostalgic memories of the old days on the line, when the trains were always spick and span; and days when the Kemp Town branch train was packed to capacity.

   1952 December, R. C. Riley, “By Rail to Kemp Town”, in Railway Magazine, page 836

   So many people have come and gone Their faces fade as the years go by Yet I still recall as I wander on As clear as the sun in the summer sky

   1976 August 25, Tom Scholz, “More Than a Feeling”, in Boston, performed by Boston

   He recalls that experience in a smooth, speedy story, “The Monster Mash,” but these days he’s not sure he liked it too much — the disembowelings, the coolers of brains, the stench of decomposing corpses (“the smell of job security,” as one pathologist puts it) terrify him.

   2008 June 15, Vanessa Grigoriadis, “Up in Smoke”, in The New York Times

   Ferguson, perhaps recalling how United had been comprehensively outfought in the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last season, opted for a side with a more pragmatic look with Phil Jones moved into a midfield role.

   2011 October 15, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

   The scenework proves unsuccessful when Carmichael recalls not the source of her misandry but another episode of overacting, that of castratively biting off the moustache of an amorous man.

   2016, Leslie H. Abramson, Hitchcock & the Anxiety of Authorship

6. transitiveTo hearken back to, evoke; to be reminiscent of.

   "The twinkling of the dancers' feet" comes to us in the Odyssey as a memory from that palace of Alkinoos, whose wonders recall to us so much that we have found in Crete.

   1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 6

   1 more example

   The police had brought two civilians with them, including the 19-year-old son of one officer who helped to carry out the beer which was seized as evidence. Both were registered as ride alongs that night and their presence did not violate any laws, but Bouza saw this as another instance in which the officers showed "questionable judgment." This recalled an incident last February when three police officers brought their girlfriends along when raiding a gay bathhouse.

   1983 August 20, Ruth Borenstein, “Harassment, Bad Judgment Cited in Twin Cities Bust”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 6, page 6

7. intransitivetransitiveTo call again; to call another time.First known use 17th c.
8. transitiveTo request or order the return of (a faulty product).First known use 20th c.

   On Feb. 26, the FDA posted a voluntary recall from Brassica Pharma, which is recalling several eye ointments with expiration dates ranging from February 2024 to September 2025.

   2024 February 28, Ramishah Maruf, “Popular eye ointments may not be sterile, recall warns”, in CNN

plural recalls · alternative obsolete recal · alternative re-call

1. The action or fact of calling someone or something back.
   1. countableuncountableRequest of the return of a faulty product.

      recall campaign

      1 more example

      The recall said that no injuries related to the potentially unsterile facility have been reported.

      2024 February 28, Ramishah Maruf, “Popular eye ointments may not be sterile, recall warns”, in CNN

   2. UScountableuncountablegovernmentThe right or procedure by which a public official may be removed from office before the end of their term of office, by a vote of the people to be taken on the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters.

      recall petition

      1 more example

      representative recall

   3. UScountableuncountablegovernmentThe right or procedure by which the decision of a court may be directly reversed or annulled by popular vote, as was advocated, in 1912, in the platform of the Progressive Party for certain cases involving the police power of the state.
2. countableuncountableMemory; the ability to remember.

   One little-known incident in No. 49's life is worth recall.

   1959 June, A. G. Dunbar, “The "Cardeans" of the Caledonian”, in Trains Illustrated, page 310

3. countableuncountableinformation retrieval; machine learning; information retrieval; machine learningThe fraction of (all) relevant material that is returned by a search.

   precision and recall

   Synonyms: sensitivity