Definition of "recant" [re•cant]

• To make a formal retraction or disavowal of (a statement or belief to which one has previously committed oneself). (verb-transitive)
• To make a formal retraction or disavowal of a previously held statement or belief. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Anyone with any knowledge of DV knows how often victims recant, which is why there are laws allowing police to prosecute them even in the absence of cooperation from the victim."
• "That girl, whose latest breath ascended in this sublime expression of self-oblivion, did not utter the word recant either with her lips or in her heart."
• "With the recent 'recant' of the first accuser and the acquittal of the charges brought against Michael Jackson in 2005, peace will never be still."