Words / R / Law

recantation

noun/ˌriːkænˈteɪʃən/

C1CEFR level
70/100Rarity: rare
TechnicalRegister

A formal withdrawal of an earlier statement or testimony.

The key witness's recantation on the stand collapsed the entire prosecution case.

Similar: retraction, disavowal

Topic: Evidence & procedure in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Evidence & procedure